St. Louis Cardinals split first two games with Cincinnati Reds

However, the offensive route from Thursday and Friday appeared to be short-lived against Reds starter Tony Cingrani on Saturday. Cingrani and Cardinals starter Jack Westbrook had somewhat of a pitching duel going on tonight.
Aug 3, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jake Westbrook (35) throws against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at Great American Ball Park. Image Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
Westbrook picked up his 6th loss of the season. He went 5 innings in the game. He allowed 4 hits, 5 runs, 5 walks, and struck out 5 batters. One of the hits came off the bat of Devin Mesoraco for a 2-run home run. Before the home run in the 4th inning, it looked as if the Cardinals might have a chance to rally for a win but that didn’t happen.

Manager Mike Matheny turned to his pen for the rest of the game and brought in relievers Seth Maness, Randy Choate, Michael Blazek, and Keith Butler. Blazek had the worst performance of the four relievers as he gave up 3 runs on home runs to Mesoraco and Shin-Soo Choo.

It just was not the Cardinals night. The Reds limited the Cardinals to 4 hits. They got on the board with one run in the first inning on Beltran’s double that scored Jay. Nothing else would happen until the 6th inning when Holliday and Freese scored.

Matheny gave the night off to second baseman Matt Carpenter. Carpenter would later pinch-hit for Pete Kozma and stay in the game. He grounded out with an RBI in his first hit on Saturday but didn’t break out of a slump just yet. Carpenter’s last hit came against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 29th. Since the July 24th game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Carpenter has 5 hits in his last 41 at bats. His batting average has dropped from .326 to .304 during the slump. He’s due to break out at some point.