ST. LOUIS (AP) - This time, Anthony DeSclafani turned in the gem for the Cincinnati Reds.
DeSclafani tossed six scoreless innings, and Cincinnati bashed five homers in a 12-1 victory over St. Louis on Friday night that snapped the Cardinals’ five-game win streak.
The Reds’ rotation hasn’t allowed an earned run in its last 17 innings. Luis Castillo threw six scoreless innings in a 4-2 win over Atlanta on Thursday. Tanner Roark went his final four innings without an earned run in a 3-1 loss on Wednesday.
“It’s fun watching all these guys go out there and have success,” DeSclafani said. “We just learn from each other as well. Hopefully, it’s something we can keep on doing.”
Joey Votto, Yasiel Puig and Eugenio Suarez homered as Cincinnati won for the sixth time in eight games. Jose Peraza and Jesse Winker also connected, and Curt Casali finished with three hits and four RBIs.
St. Louis ace Miles Mikolas (2-2) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings. He pitched eight effective innings in a 10-2 victory over the New York Mets in his previous start.
Matt Carpenter had two hits and walked twice for St. Louis, which finished with eight hits. Carpenter scored on Paul DeJong’s single in the eighth for the Cardinals’ only run.
DeSclafani (1-1) gave up four hits in a 91-pitch outing. He struck out six and walked three.
“He set the tone the way he pitched,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said.
The Cardinals got runners on in each of his six innings, but were never able to come up with a big hit. It was DeSclafani’s first win since Aug. 28 against Milwaukee.
“He had some life on his fastball,” St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said. “He worked ahead in counts and it looked like he was changing his speeds effectively.”
Suarez put Cincinnati in front with his sixth homer in the first. Winker hit his team-best seventh homer leading off the fourth, and Votto made it 4-0 with a solo shot in the fifth. Puig drove in Winker with a two-run drive in the eighth, and Peraza homered during the Reds’ six-run ninth.
The five homers matched a season high for Cincy.
“It was a lot of fun, it was very impressive,” Winker said. “We’ve been talking about this offense all year long. It can kind of get you at any minute. It happened tonight real quick - 12 runs got put up pretty fast.”
Mikolas was coming off his best outing of the season.
“Sometimes you leave balls down the middle and they’re flyouts to center,” Mikolas said. “Sometimes they’re home runs.”
St. Louis infielder Jedd Gyorko struck out pinch hitter Phillip Ervin on four pitches to end the ninth.
STREAKING
St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the second. Teammate Paul Goldschmidt extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the seventh.
ROSTER MOVE
St. Louis activated Tyler O’Neill from the 10-day injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Lane Thomas to Triple-A Memphis. O’Neill had been sidelined by a right elbow injury.
O’Neill grounded into a double play as a pinch hitter in the seventh.
TRAINING ROOM
Reds: LHP Alex Wood (back spasms) threw a bullpen session Wednesday in Arizona and is scheduled to throw another Saturday.
Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson (right shoulder impingement) tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts for Double-A Springfield on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
St. Louis right-hander Dakota Hudson (1-1, 5.89 ERA) will start the second game of the three-game series on Saturday against right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-3, 3.52 ERA). Hudson pitched a career-high five innings to earn his first win as a starter on Sunday. Mahle is seeking to stop a two-game skid and is 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two career starts against St. Louis.
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