Kyle Gibson held the host Cincinnati Reds hitless and scoreless for the first five innings and Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman belted two-run homers as the St. Louis Cardinals won 7-1 on Tuesday.
Arenado homered for just the fourth time this season and Ivan Herrera had three hits for the Cardinals, who won for the sixth time in seven games.
Will Benson broke up the no-hit bid with his eighth homer leading off the sixth for the Reds, who had their season-high four-game win streak snapped.
Arenado was batting fifth in the order for St. Louis for the second straight game and just the second time in his four seasons with the Cardinals.
Gibson (4-2) retired the first eight batters before the right-hander walked Benson with two outs in the third. He then struck out Jacob Hurtubise for the final out of the inning. Gibson, in winning his third straight decision, allowed only the one run on two hits, striking out six and walking two over six innings.
Cincinnati starter and loser Andrew Abbott (3-5) was sharp over the first 2 2/3 innings, also retiring the first eight batters before Brendan Donovan singled to center. Masyn Winn then doubled Donovan home for a 1-0 St. Louis lead.
The Winn double extended his hitting streak to 17 games, matching Albert Pujols (2001) and Jordan Walker (2023) for the second-longest by a rookie in franchise history and eight shy of Joe McEwing’s franchise mark set in 1999.
Herrera started a rally in the fourth when he singled to center with one out. Arenado, with just three homers in his first 51 games, drove a 92-mph fastball deep to the lower seats in left for a 3-0 St. Louis lead.
The Reds were held hitless until Benson lined a 1-0 fastball from Gibson over the wall in right in the sixth.
The Cardinals answered immediately in the top of the seventh against Abbott on Gorman’s ninth homer, a two-run shot with Dylan Carlson aboard for a 5-1 lead.
Abbott, charged with six runs and seven hits over six-plus innings, did not retire a batter in the seventh and was pulled after Donovan doubled and reached third on a fielding error.
Winn (groundout) and Herrera (single) added RBIs to increase St. Louis’ cushion.
–Field Level Media
