John Lackey ejected as St. Louis Cardinals fall to Reds

For the second night in row, the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Cincinnati Reds.

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Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they had to turn to the bullpen earlier than they preferred as John Lackey was ejected in the third inning. On a 2-1 pitch to Brayan Pena with nobody out, Lackey was not happy with the call by home plate umpire Tom Hallion. Hallion warned the pitcher and Lackey continued to express his disagreement with the call. This was Lackey’s fourth career ejection and the first that did not result from hitting a batter.

In two innings, Lackey allowed two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out one.

“Lackey was warned to quit arguing balls and strikes,” Hallion said in an MLB.com article. “When I came out and I gave him a warning, that was it, knock it off. And he continued to argue, which got him ejected.”

“I threw a ball that was up, and I said, ‘If that’s up, the other one’s not down,'” Lackey said in an MLB.com article. “And then he came up and kind of started yelling back towards me, and I kind of got back up on the mound, and about as loud as I’m talking now, I said, ‘One or the other,’ just kind of to myself getting back up on the mound. There’s no way he could’ve heard what I said.

“I didn’t say any cuss words towards him or anything like that…I don’t think what I said was worth getting thrown out for, that’s for sure.”

After the ejection, Tyler Lyons came out of the pen and pitched 2.1 innings. Lyons allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits. Seth Maness pitched 1.2 innings and Carlos Martinez closed out the final two innings for the Cardinals.

Reds starter Alfredo Simon, who fell apart after the All-Star break, was sharp for the Reds on Wednesday night. After going 1-7 with an ERA over 5 in his prior ten starts, Simon went seven innings and allowed two runs on five hits.

The Cardinals scored their only runs with a walk and a pair of hits in the first inning. Matt Adams doubled home Matt Holliday for the first run of the night. Oscar Taveras singled in Adams in the next at-bat.

Not helping the Cardinals with consecutive losses were Wednesday night wins by the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates.