Reds bury Cardinals 10-3 behind Spencer Steer, strong pitching

The Cincinnati Reds scored four runs in the first inning and they just played add on from there as they pounded out 18 hits on the night. Ben Lively matched a career high in strikeouts and the bullpen took care of the rest with Eduardo Salazar making his big league debut and wrapping the game up in the 9th to seal a 10-3 win on Wednesday night.

Final	R	H	E
St. Louis Cardinals (22-29)	3	8	1
Cincinnati Reds (21-28)	10	18	0
W: Lively (2-2) L: Matz (0-6)
Statcast \| Box Score \| Game Thread

Ben Lively ran into some early trouble, giving up a 1-out single to Paul Goldschmidt and a 2-out walk to Nolan Arenado before he struck out Willson Contreras to get out of the jam. That would work out well because Cincinnati’s offense went right to work in the bottom of the inning. A walk by Jonathan India was followed in the inning by three singles and capped off by a 2-run double from Kevin Newman that put the Reds up 4-0.

Two innings later Cincinnati tacked on another run and it came when Nick Senzel, Stuart Fairchild, and Kevin Newman strung together three straight singles. The Cardinals were able to get that run back when Brendan Donovan hit a solo home run to lead off the 4th. In the bottom of the inning the Cardinals defense gave one back as Matt McLain hit a long drive to right field, but Oscar Mercado set up at the base of the wall and leapt and should have caught the ball just shy of the wall, but instead had it pop out of his glove and go over his head into the first row of seats for a solo homer that made it 6-1.

Lars Nootbaar picked that run right back up for St. Louis with a solo home run to lead off the 5th inning, but that was all that the Cardinals would get against Ben Lively over the next two innings. He would finished with just two earned runs given up in his 6.0 innings and he matched his career high of eight strikeouts (which he has done twice before). Before Lively was officially out of the game the offense provided more wiggle room on a sacrifice fly by Nick Senzel and an RBI double by Stuart Fairchild that made it 8-2.

Cincinnati wasn’t done there, though. After Kevin Herget threw a shutout 7th inning, the Reds played add on with one out. Jonathan India singled and moved to third on a double by Spencer Steer. Spencer Steer then came through with hit number four of the night – a single that plated both runners – to make it 10-2.

Holding a 10-2 lead, Cincinnati turned the game over to Eduardo Salazar in the top of the 9th inning. The right-handed reliever was called up earlier in the day and was making his big league debut. After getting Tommy Edman to fly out to start the inning he walked Alec Burleson. Oscar Mercado then followed up with a double to put put two men in scoring position. The Cardinals picked up a run on an infield single that was originally ruled a ground out, but replay showed that Lars Nootbaar beat Salazar to the bag. With Paul Goldschmidt due up, St. Louis pinch hit Andrew Knizner and he grounded out to Salazar for the second out of the inning. He would pick up his first strikeout to end the game and guarantee at least a series split for the Reds over the Cardinals.

Table of Contents

Key Moment of the Game

The first inning of the game that saw the Reds grab a 4-0 lead and they never looked back from there.

Notes Worth Noting

The first seven batters in the lineup all had at least two hits.

Spencer Steer had four hits, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Since May 15th he’s hitting .385.

Eduardo Salazar giving up a double in the 9th to Oscar Mercado was the first non-single he had allowed in 2023.

Ben Lively pitched in six games for Louisville this season and never struck out more than four batters in a game. He’s doubled that number in his two starts for Cincinnati this year. His ERA is now sitting at 2.65 through four appearances.