ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Cincinnati Reds bounced back from a lopsided loss to the St. Louis Cardinals with some strong pitching performances and timely hitting one night later.
Rookie right-hander Tyler Mahle tossed five innings, Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam and the Reds beat the Cardinals 6-0 on Wednesday night.
“Yesterday was ugly, there’s no other way to describe that,” Reds manager Bryan Price said of his team’s 13-4 loss on Tuesday. “You hate to come here and play that poorly in the opener. So to go into this game with a rookie starting pitcher who gives you five scoreless, great shutdown pitching from the bullpen, solid defense and big hits in the fifth inning, it was phenomenal.”
Jesse Winker added a home run and Joey Votto had two hits and drove in a run for the Reds, who had lost four of their last five games.
The Cardinals had won four straight and eight of nine.
Mahle (1-2) allowed four hits, striking out four and walking three in earning his first major league win. The right-hander, who was making his fourth career start, threw 100 pitches and was able to strand eight runners.
“Obviously those walks hang over my head and I hate walking guys,” Mahle said. “Everyone does. But I was able to battle and guys were able to make great plays behind me and I battled through five.”
Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty (0-1), also a rookie right-hander, allowed three runs and four hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Winker, the Reds rookie right fielder, opened the game with his fifth homer of the season. Winker ended the first inning with a diving catch that saved a run.
The Reds scored five runs in the fifth, all coming with two outs, and all coming after the third out of the inning was overturned upon replay review.
“We were very, very close to getting out of that inning, keeping it a one-run game and then giving our offense a chance to get rolling,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.
Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong made a diving stop to snare a grounder from Zack Cozart. He flipped to second base for the third out, but replays showed Mahle beat the toss to the base.
“When he (DeJong) made that diving play I was already running hard so I was ’Oh I might beat this out’ and got lucky,” Mahle said. “Lucky I was hustling.”
Votto then smacked a bases-loaded single to left field off left-handed reliever Ryan Sherriff to make it 2-0. Suarez followed with a grand slam, his 25th homer of the season, into the Reds bullpen in left field to make it 6-0.
“I was just looking for something in my strike zone,” Suarez said. “I just always want to put my best swing on it and that was the perfect pitch he threw me right there in my hitting spot and I put on my best swing and hit it so good.”
The Reds bullpen backed Mahle’s start with four innings from Kevin Shackelford, Michael Lorenzen and Luke Farrell. The Cardinals managed just one hit over the final five innings.
REDS HOMERS
The grand slam by Suarez was the 200th home run of the season for Cincinnati.
The Reds reached the 200 home run mark for the first time since 2007, when they hit 204, and for the seventh time in club history.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: 3B Jedd Gyorko (right hamstring strain) was activated from the disabled list.
Reds: RHP Drew Storen (right elbow sprain) was placed on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Sept. 10. . 2B Scooter Gennett, who left Tuesday’s game due to left hand inflammation, was not in the lineup on Wednesday but the injury isn’t considered serious. . RHP Anthony DeSclafani (right elbow), who hasn’t pitched in a game this season, threw two innings of a simulated game on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Reds: LHP Amir Garrett (3-7, 7.39) allowed four runs and five hits in five innings in his last start, Sept. 8 at the New York Mets.
Cardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (5-1, 2.16) has won his last four starts and his 1.42 ERA over that span is tied for third in the National League.
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