Mark Reynolds plays hero for Cardinals on Monday night

In the past, I’ve been critical of the St. Louis Cardinals off season acquisition of Mark Reynolds. I dubbed him “Mr. Swing At Everything” and said we would have been better off with Ty Kelly.

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I was wrong – for one night anyways. In the game Monday night, Carlos Martinez struggled from the beginning, giving up five runs in the top half of the inning and putting us in a hole from the start.

Well, in the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals loaded the bases, and up came Reynolds, who was starting for Matt Adams, who presumably had been given the night off due to the fact that he had played in three extra-inning games in a row. (The same was true for Tony Cruz, who started for Yadier Molina.)

Reynolds promptly launched the ball into the visitor’s bullpen. A grand slam, which cut the deficit to one run. The St. Louis Cardinals ended up winning 10-9. He also wound up going 2-for-3 with a walk, while making several good plays at first base.

For one night at least, Reynolds made the St. Louis Cardinals executives look smart.

Will it continue? Probably not. There’s a reason he was acquired to be part of our bench: To spell Matt Adams and be our primary pinch hitter. Reynolds has said in the past he believes he can still start. It’s nice that he has that self-confidence, but I don’t believe that’s true, but we’ll save that debate for another time. For now, let’s just enjoy what he did last night.

Of course, Reynolds didn’t supply all of the offense. Kolten Wong and the aforementioned Cruz also played a big part as well, both driving in two runs. Cruz delivered the killer blow, putting us up 10-8 with a two run double in the seventh inning.

Still, the hero of the night was Reynolds, who showed that his signing might not have been such a bad thing after all.

As always, thanks for reading.

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