Paul Goldschmidt snapped out of a prolonged slump with solo homers in his first two at-bats while Adam Wainwright earned a rare win in Cincinnati as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals beat the Reds 8-5 on Tuesday night.
Goldschmidt got his big night off to a quick start in the first against Cincinnati starter and loser Graham Ashcraft (2-3) with a towering drive to the first row of seats in left center.
Goldschmidt entered the game in a 1-for-21 slump with nine strikeouts and had not homered since May 7, when he homered three times against Detroit.
Wainwright (2-0) scattered eight hits and five runs over 5 2/3 innings for his first win in Cincinnati since Aug. 16, 2019, which was also his last win against the Reds overall.
In the ninth, the Reds loaded the bases against closer Ryan Helsley, who suffered the loss on Monday. But Jonathan India grounded out to short to end the game, giving Helsley his sixth save in nine chances.
Tommy Edman doubled, tripled and drove in three runs for the Cardinals, who won for the 12th time in 16 games.
TJ Friedl returned from the injured list with two doubles and rookie shortstop Matt McLain connected for his first career homer and drove in three for the Reds, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
In his second at-bat, Goldschmidt lofted an Ashcraft slider to deep right field. It just cleared the wall for his second homer in as many at-bats.
Two batters later, plate umpire Will Little called a strike on Nolan Arenado that Arenado didn’t agree with. Arenado then grounded into a double play, and in between innings, Arenado argued with Little and was ejected, along with Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, who also argued with Little.
The Reds managed to cut the Cardinals’ lead to one, 4-3, in the third when McLain recorded his first career home run. McLain drove a Wainwright sinker to the seats in right field for a two-run homer.
Ashcraft was pulled after five innings, allowing seven runs on 10 hits, striking out five, walking none and yielding the two solo homers to Goldschmidt.
With the tying runs on base in the sixth, reliever Chris Stratton fanned Kevin Newman to end the rally as Wainwright received hugs from teammates in the dugout.
–Field Level Media
