Bader's hit gives Cardinals victory over Reds

Harrison Bader's walk-off RBI single lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Reds in the first half of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. Jose Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the ninth. Pinch-runner Tyler O'Neill had to stop at third when Yadier Molina's ground-rule double hopped into the right-center field seats.

That set the stage for Bader, who lifted a fly ball over the pulled-in Reds defense to win the game. The Cardinals won for the 18th time in 22 games while the Reds lost for the seventh time in 10 games.

Cardinals reliever Carlos Martinez (4-2) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the victory. Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen (0-4) took the loss. St. Louis starting pitcher Miles Mikolas allowed three runs in six innings. Reds starter Tyler Mahle, just back from Triple-A Louisville, limited the Cardinals to two runs in 6 1/3 innings.

In the second inning, Molina hit a two-out single, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an error for the first run of the game. Bader rolled a grounder to first baseman Joey Votto, but Mahle dropped Votto's throw and then kicked the ball away. The Reds responded with three third-inning runs. Jose Iglesias hit a single, went to third on Josh VanMeter's double and scored on Votto's sacrifice fly.

Eugenio Suarez made it 3-1 with his two-run shot over the center field wall for his 40th homer of the season. The Cardinals cut that lead to 3-2 in the seventh. Martinez, just back from the injured list, got hit by a pitch, stole second base and scored on Bader's RBI single.

The Cardinals tied the game in the eighth. Dexter Fowler walked, took second on reliever Amir Garrett's wild pick-off throw, moved to third on Tommy Edman's single and scored on pinch-hitter Paul DeJong's sacrifice fly. Aside from Mahle, the Reds promoted pitchers Matt Bowman, Wandy Peralta and Sal Romano as well as infielder Alex Blandino on Sunday.

In addition to Game 2 starter Daniel Ponce de Leon, the Cardinals promoted pitchers Genesis Cabrera, Mike Mayers and Junior Fernandez, catcher Andrew Knizner and first baseman Rangel Ravelo. Catcher Matt Wieters suffered a calf muscle strain in Game 2 Saturday night, so the Cardinals promoted minor league catcher Joe Hudson as well.

 

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