Reds manager Bryan Price has only two hands and 10 fingers. Just when it seemed Tuesday that one leak was stopped when the offense perked up, Price saw two more drips spring on the club with its pitching and defense vs. the Cardinals.
This 7-5 Reds loss to St. Louis at Busch Stadium proved extra unfortunate because the lineup provided leads of 4-0 through two innings and 5-4 through the fifth. Neither one held up as Cincinnati dropped the first two games of the three-game series.
“We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve been able to score some runs. We just haven’t been able to hold the opponent down,” Price said. “I just saw some better things offensively. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take advantage of the lead and maintain it.”
In the St. Louis sixth against Reds reliever Logan Ondrusek, Peter Bourjos led off with a double inside the right-field line and went to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Matt Carpenter was hit by a pitch and Matt Holliday lifted a two-out fly ball to the warning track in right field. Jay Bruce appeared to have a bead on it, but the ball kissed off of his glove as he made a small leap.
It was scored as a two-run double that gave the Cardinals a 6-5 lead.
“I catch that. I should. I expect to,” Bruce said. “I just jumped a tad early. Error or not, it’s a ball I should have caught. I take a lot of pride in defense and that side of the game.”
J.J. Hoover gave up two hits and two walks in the seventh, including Bourjos’ one-out RBI single to left-center field that made it a two-run game. Hoover escaped more damage by leaving the bases loaded.
The Reds (2-6) are 1-4 on the current road trip with one game left to play.
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