| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
|  St. Louis Cardinals (80-64) | 5 | 10 | 0 |
|   Cincinnati Reds (67-77) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| W: Miller (9-9)   L: Parra (0-3) | |||
|  FanGraphs Win Probability |  The Worldwide Leader’s Box Score  |   Game Photos | |||
POSITIVES
Another Reds player goes down with injury, but reliever David Holmberg puts together a very strong outing in an emergency relief situation. Holmberg pitched 5.2 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 5.
The Reds only had three hits, but Brandon Phillips had two of those hits in three trips to the plate.
NEGATIVES
Everything else.
It took the Reds 4 relievers to get through the 7th inning tonight.
Shelby Miller came into the game allowing 4 walks per nine innings. Tonight, the Reds patiently drew zero walks in Miller’s seven innings.
NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHTS
Can we finish out the season without any additional injuries?! The backups are starting to get beat up now. Dylan Axelrod had to be pulled from the game after retiring just one batter with an oblique injury. Pedro Villarreal (who was actually finished the miserable 7th inning and pitched a good 8th) had to be pulled in the 9th inning after getting hit by a comebacker.
David Holmberg bridged the game from injured starter to the setup guys, and the 7th and 8th inning relievers failed this team again. Tonight it was Manny Parra’s turn to give up two runs while retiring just one batter.
We may get to see what David Holmberg can do as a starter for the rest of this month.
Reds players not named Brandon Phillips or Devin Mesoraco were 0-for-22 tonight. TOS.
How did the Reds bullpen, which by many measures was #1 or #2 in all of baseball the past couple of seasons, fall to such depths this season with essentially the same cast of characters?
I don’t want to see the Cardinals just run away with this thing! Hopefully, Mike Leake and the Reds will come back strong tomorrow night and make the Cardinals work the rest of this series.