St Louis wins the double header in Cincinnati and guarantees at least a series split with the Reds
Game 1
Top 1
Nootbaar ground out, Masyn Winn home run, Donovan line out to center field, and Arenado ground out
Bottom 1
Miles Mikolas only gives up a single to Elly De La Cruz, strikes out Matt McLain, with Friedl and Lux fly outs to start and end the bottom of the inning
Top 2
Willson Contreras strike out, Alec Burleson fly out to center, a Nolan Gorman walk, and a Yohel Pozo ground out
Bottom 2
Miles Mikolas makes the entire side fly out to left field, and right field for Jake Fraley
Top 3
Victor Scott II singled and stole his 10th base, Lars Nootbaar walked, Masyn Winn popped out, but then Brendan Donovan grounded out into a double play!
Bottom 3
Miles Mikolas struck out Jose Trevino, made Tyler Callihan fly out, and made TJ Friedl ground out, mixing in three ways to retire the side!
Top 4
Other than Willson Contreras being hit by a pitch, this inning isn’t really worth mentioning
Bottom 4
Mikolas hit Elly De La Cruz with a pitch, which he reacted to by stealing a base, but that was it really, Miles was cruising
Top 5
The Cardinals bats were quiet and ineffective
Bottom 5
Other than a Jose Trevino hit, Miles Mikolas had another good if not really good inning… who was expecting Mikolas to be so good today? I wasn’t
Top 6
Masyn Winn walked to start the inning. Today he was moved up to the second spot in the order… and it worked! However, this inning Donovan, Arenado, and Contreras came up empty
Bottom 6
Miles Mikolas avoided any damage even though Elly De La Cruz reached base and stole a base again, but with help of Kyle Leahy in relief, no damage was done! Mikolas would end up getting the win…
Top 7
The Cardinals were up 1-0 on the early Masyn Winn home run… Burleson struck out, Gorman walked again, Pozo singled, Victor Scott II walked, but then Lars Nootbaar lined into a double play! Stuck with a one run lead most of the game, this was the inning that Reds starter Brady Singer was relieved after only giving up 1 run. Today was his first loss of the season! Reds reliever Rogers was charged with the Yohel hit
Bottom 7
Kyle Leahy was able to cruise through the side and is perhaps, the staple of our bullpen, at least so far: 1.47 ERA, 3.12 xERA. Leahy has the magic as a Cardinal, slicing through the Reds lineup like they were salted butter left out on the counter, ending the inning by inducing a ground into double play. Jose Trevino was having a day until he met Leahy
Top 8
Scott Barlow replaced Taylor Rogers, Oliver Marmol was ejected for some reason *i was at work Masyn Winn began the inning by taking a walk, but then was thrown out stealing a base! Which was overturned ultimately, after an initial safe call. However, Donovan and Arenado were retired, going 0-9 between the two of them. They did not have a good day. This made the game very tense and suspenseful to follow at work on gameday. Only 1-0 going into…
Bottom 8
A JoJo Romero relief appearance in 2025 has been no fun, usually. But today he found a bit of his old self and mixed together a fly out, strike out, and ground out to retire the Reds 8th inning chances.
Top 9
The epic Game 1 ninth inning started out with a hit by pitch to Contreras. Burleson joined Arenado and Donovan combining to go 0-13 between the three. They certainly have faith in Alec I guess we will see if he ever turns it around. It was looking like the Cardinals might flirt with extras, because Nolan Gorman flew out to Fraley in right field. However, Yohel Pozo decided that the game was over yet and hit a single.
This set the stage for big time heroics: Victor Scott II hit his 2nd home run of the year, Lars Nootbaar hit his 5th home run of the year, and Masyn Winn hit his 2nd home run of the day, which was his 3rd of the year! Back to back to back home runs in the 9th!
All the sudden it was 4-0 on the three run VSII shot, 5-0 on the Noot solo blast, and then things got serious when Winn hit his second home run of the day. Donovan tried to extend the scoring but then Nolan Arenado went 0 for 5.
Bottom 9
Matt Svanson was brought in to replace JoJo Romero with the big lead. The kid was able to get through the side while only allowing a walk to Lux.
The Cardinals won game 1 of the day, a make up game from the April 29 rainout, 6-0. They scored 6 runs on 7 hits, 4 of which were home runs. Cardinals pitching finally looked really good on the road! The road cursed felt like it was being lifted a bit.
Alexis Diaz is now rocking a 14.25 FIP on the season, and a 12 ERA. He ain’t closing games, he is blowing them up… but the Reds seem to think of him as their closer. Thank you Cincinnati! Looking at fangraphs pitch plotter, the umpires are still constricting the zone quite a bit, which seems to be a pattern this year.
Game 2
While game 1 today came off as a suspenseful movie with a big explosion at the end where the good guys win, Game 2 was just a drubbing where the Cardinals won the game 9-1. The fangraphs win expectancy graph is just basically flatlined after 3 innings.
Top 1
The drubbings continued in Game 1 with a three run Willson Contreras home run! These 3 RBI were set up by a leadoff Lars Nootbaar walk and a Masyn Winn single on a line drive to right field. Winn has responded really well, today at least, to being moved up to the 2nd spot in the order. Lars Nootbaar is proving to be the perfect leadoff guy, by making the pitcher work from the very beginning of the game. Lars Nootbaar is seeing an average of 4.214 pitches per plate appearance, the highest in his five years with the Cardinals. This puts him within the top 30 or so hitters in MLB, as far as seeing a lot of pitches.
Bottom 1
Steven Matz allowed a single and a stolen base to Matt McLain, but otherwise cruised through the top of the Reds lineup. He has an ERA and FIP below 2 this season!
Top 2
The Cardinals home run parade continued with Pedro Pages rocking the 6th home run of the day vs Cincinnati! It was 4-0 Cardinals. Jordan Walker was retired before Pedro, and Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar after.
Bottom 2
Matz gave up singles to Steer and Espinal, but then retired Lux, Wynns, and Dunn. Sounds like a weird lawyer firm.
Top 3
Masyn Winn had himself a DAY and doubled to start the third inning. Then, Brendan Donovan knocked him in with an RBI single on a line drive to Friedl! 5-0 Cards! Then Willson Contreras singled, Alec Burleson struck out, Nolan Gorman walked yet again, and then Jordan Walker doubled on a sharp line drive to left field scoring Donovan and Contreras! 7-0. But it was not over!
Brent Suter replaced the newbie starting pitcher Chase Petty. Pedro Pages put the ball into play and it scored Gorman! 8-0 on the fielder’s choice. The third was not over yet!
Victor Scott II singled to left field which scored Jordan Walker. 9-0 Cardinals! Nootbaar and Winn ended the inning but severe damage had already been done.
Bottom 3
Matz cruised through the side again with no problem although he allowed a single to Elly De La Cruz
The rest of the game was relatively uneventful save for an RBI single against Gordon Graceffo in the 6th inning which scored Elly De La Cruz after he singled earlier that inning. Graceffo relieved Matz in the 5th inning and he had no problem retiring the side.
Gordon actually pitched 5 innings of one run ball vs the Reds and finished out the game. What a day for the Cardinals! They climbed back to within 3 games of .500, doubled their road wins, and celebrated a day stacked with home runs, plus the success of Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Gordon Graceffo, and the bullpen on the pitching side.
Notes
- I actually feel bad for Alec Burleson going 0-8 on a day where a lot of Cardinals hitters saw great success at the ballpark
- Nolan Gorman actually played third base in Game 2 and showed off his arm a little bit
- the Cardinals didn’t have to use the bullpen much today
- Masyn Winn 4-8 with 2 BB and 2 HR batting 2nd
I’m wrapping this one up quickly because it’s getting late, I had to work a lot today, and the game is another AM time at 11:40. This one has been the finale pitcher’s duel of the series all along and I am sure both teams will bring it tomorrow after these first three games! It’s Liberatore at Abbott. Andrew Abbott so far has improved over a good season last year. And we all know the Matthew Liberatore success story so far in 2025. Should be a good game!