It’s game two of a three game series between the Reds and Cardinals in hot and humid St. Louis. Jack Flaherty takes on Luis Castillo. It was a rough night for the Redbirds last night, we will see if they can turn things around this Saturday afternoon.

Lineups

Game Notes

MATT CARPENTER hits his 18th homer of the season in the top of the first. Despite not making the All-Star, no doubt he has turned his season around.

RAIN DELAY

This rain delay lasts about 50 minutes.

The delay doesn’t seem to effect Flaherty early. He strikes out two All-Stars in Gennet and Suarez in the second and has three strike outs through two innings.

Scooter Gennett makes an outstanding catch in shallow right field to rob Matt Carpenter of his second hit of the game. It’s still crazy to think Scooter Gennett hit four home runs in one game off the Cardinals and since than has been one of the best players in baseball. Wild.

After cruising through the first three innings, Flaherty throws a lot of pitches in the fourth. He gives up a bloop base hit and walks two to load the bases. But, Captain Jack navigates his way through a Jesse Winker at bat and gets Winker to fly out to center. Great work by Flaherty to get out of the inning unscathed. 1-0 Cardinals through the top of the fourth.

Kolten Wong stays hot and strokes a double down the right field line. He makes it to third base with one out when Marcell Ozuna knocks him in with a ground out two second. Cardinals up 2-0 through four.

Flaherty has a pretty similar inning in the fifth as he did in the fourth. A few things go the wrong way for him, but he is able to get our fo the inning scoreless. He is turning into a master of getting out of jams.

Dexter Fowler kicks off the bottom of the fifth with a bloop hit to right center. Hey, anything to get Dexter going is great in my book.  A Paul DeJong ground rule double moves Dexter to third. Pham grounds out to third and Suarez tags out Fowler and throws to first for the double play. Yikes. Cardinals get runner on second and third with no outs and can’t score. They still have the lead through five innings which is nice, I guess.

RAIN DELAY

Rain delay part deux lasted about an hour and a half.

Jack Flaherty does not return to the mound after the delay. Jack goes five innings, gives up zero runs on two hits, walks three and strikes out five.

Joey Votto lead off the top of the sixth with a lead off double in typical Joey Votto fashion. Scooter Gennett doubles him and the Reds have cut the Cardinals lead in half.

Matt Carpenter leads off the bottom of the sixth with a lead off double in typical Matt Carpenter fashion. Matt Carpenter is now 3-for-3 and a triple away from a cycle. In typical Cardinals’ fashion, the Redbirds can’t bring him around to score. 2-1 Cardinals through six innings.

Jordan Hicks enters the game in the top of the seventh. He hits a batter, walks Billy Hamilton and gives up a base hit to Adam Duvall to load the bases with no outs. Peraza hits a high chopper at Hicks and it bounces off his throwing hand. A run scores and everyone is safe. JORDAN HICKS STRIKES OUT JOEY VOTTO LOOKING WITH NO OUTS. Sorry that was awesome. Got excited there. Anyways, Scooter Gennett drives in a run, Suarez drives in two runs and just like that the Reds are up 5-2. Not Hicks’ best outing.

Greg Holland takes over for Hicks in the eighth. He loads the bases. Holland exits the game. Tyler Lyons enters the game to deal with Joey Votto. You won’t believe this but Joey Votto drives in two runs with a beautiful base hit up the middle. 7-2 Reds.

The Reds add another run in the eighth just to keep me watching this game longer. Jose Paraza got five hits tonight. Joey Votto has come up to the plate three times with the bases loaded. Good for them, honestly.

Cardinals lose this one 8-2. They try to avoid the sweep by sending All-Star Miles Mikolas to the mound tomorrow. It’ll be their last game before the All-Star break. If they lose tomorrow they will fall to 47-47 in the season. I think there’s a good chance things might look a little different when play resumes for this team a week from now in Chicago but only time will tell.