Rhett Lowder made his first start on the road of his big league career and he didn’t seem bothered by the away crowd at all as he fired off five shutout innings. The Cincinnati Reds bullpen took care of the rest as the four relievers completed the shutout 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals to open up the 3-game series between the two National League Central clubs.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (71-75) |
3 | 7 | 0 |
| St. Louis Cardinals (72-72) | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Lowder (1-1) L: Pallante (6-8) SV: Pagan (1) |
|||
| Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Elly De La Cruz drew a 4-pitch walk in the top of the 1st inning. He then proceeded to steal both second and third base, but he was stranded at third base. In the bottom of the inning it was the Cardinals that were threatening after Paul Goldschmidt doubled with two outs. But he would be stranded there when Rhett Lowder struck out Nolan Arenado to end the inning.
The Reds had runners on in each of the next three innings, but they were unable to cash in on those opportunities. None of those opportunities matched the one they had in the top of the 5th when Jonathan India led off with a walk and moved up to second on a single by Elly De La Cruz. Both then moved up a base on a wild pitch. This time they made something of it as TJ Friedl came through with a 1-out, 2-run single that put Cincinnati in the lead. Friedl would then come around to score on a high chopper from Ty France to extend the Reds lead to 3-0.
In the 6th inning the Reds would once again get two runners on, but Elly De La Cruz took back-to-back pitches for called strikes to strikeout. Both pitches – at least according to the pitch tracking – were outside. It led to David Bell coming out to talk with the umpire and shortly after that led to Bell’s ejection from the game. A pop up would end the inning as Cincinnati failed to add to their lead.
After throwing five shutout innings on just 84 pitches, Rhett Lowder was replaced to begin the bottom of the 6th inning in favor of Justin Wilson. He was welcomed with an infield single on a chopper to third base. A 1-out walk would put pressure on, but Wilson locked in and struck out the next two batters to hold onto a 3-run lead.
Tony Santillan took over for Cincinnati in the 7th and needed just eight pitches to get three outs. Brent Suter followed up with a 7-pitch 8th inning as the Reds clung to a 3-0 lead. When the bottom of the 9th began it was Emilio Pagan that took the mound. And he immediately gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. He then walked Lars Nootbaar to load the bases.
That led to a visit from pitching coach Derek Johnson. After almost hitting Jordan Walker on the first pitch of the at-bat, Pagan struck him out on the three pitches after that. Three pitches later he had also struck out Thomas Saggese for the second out of the inning. Matt Carpenter came off of the bench to pinch hit for Pedro Pages, but just like the two batters before him, he went down on strikes with this one ending the game.
Key Moment of the Game
Emilio Pagan striking out Matt Carpenter to end the game and strand three runners on the bases.
Notes Worth Noting
Rhett Lowder earned his first career win in the big leagues. He didn’t walk a batter for the first time in his career (just his third start). His ERA dropped to 0.59.
Cincinnati’s pitching staff walked just two hitters and had nine strikeouts. The Reds batters walked six times on the night.
Santiago Espinal was the only Red with two hits in the game. Elly De La Cruz had a hit, two walks, two steals, and a run scored.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals
Wednesday September 11th, 7:45pm ET
Brandon Williamson (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs Lance Lynn (6-4, 4.06 ERA)
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