Game 5: Cardinals Slap Reds with First Loss

The Cincinnati Reds were looking to match their best start since 2011, but St Louis had other plans. Johnny Cueto took the mound for the Reds on Saturday against Michael Wacha. Cueto had a stellar outing, but the Reds' bats simply disappeared on this day. Cueto gave the Reds 7 innings while giving up 4 hits and two runs, one of which was unearned. Wacha also displayed superb pitching giving the Cardinals 6.1 innings. He allowed five hits, one earned run, and notched the win.

The scoring started early for Cincinnati in the first inning. Todd Frazier drove a 3-0 fastball to left field for his third home run of the season to give the Reds a 1-0 lead early. That would be the only bright spot on the day for the Reds offensively. Cincinnati batted 0-9 when runners were in scoring position. They also left 12 base runners on for the game. Devin Mesoraco stole second base in the fourth inning on a wide throw by Yadier Molina. What's interesting about this play was that it was the Reds' 10th stolen bag of the season. The Reds are 10-for-10 on the season, and that is a promising stat. If the Reds can be consistently good at moving runners, the hitting will come around. That could be good for a couple more wins this season that should be chalked up as losses otherwise.

The Cardinals did every thing it took to win the game. Kolten Wong tied the game up with a sac fly in the second that plated Jhonny Peralta. The tie was later broken up in the fourth inning when Matt Adams tagged a home run off of Cueto to make it 2-1. After that, it was relatively quiet until the ninth inning. Burke Badenhop gave up a single to Peralta that scored Peter Bourjos and another single to Molina that would score Peralta. The two insurance runs in the ninth were enough breathing room for Trevor Rosenthal to nail down the five out save.

On Sunday, the Reds and Cardinals will meet in the rubber match at 1:10. Carlos Martinez will take the mound for St Louis and will oppose Raisel Iglesias who is making his major league debut after signing a 7 year-$27 million deal last summer. The Reds are trying to avoid losing their 13th straight three-game series against the Cardinals. The streak dates back to July 2012.

-Dug
@chansm1th