Added to the lineup as part of manager Mike Matheny’s efforts to find an offensive spark, outfielder Tommy Pham delivered a tiebreaking home run on Sunday that halted the Cardinals’ three-game losing streak and sent them surging from Cincinnati with a 9-2 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
The Cardinals’ offense, which had mustered just three runs in the first three games of the series, erased an early deficit with a two-run fifth against Reds starter Raisel Iglesias. Reliever Sam LeCure then started the sixth, issued a one-out walk and served up a two-run blast to Pham. It came amidst a stretch of nine unanswered runs for the Cardinals.
“To be able to get a start and then to be able to help the team out, it’s truly a good feeling,” Pham said.
Sunday marked Pham’s first start since Sept. 2.
“I definitely don’t feel happy about this outing,” Iglesias said through translator Tomas Vera after he gave up two runs and five hits while throwing 89 pitches over five innings. “My goal was to throw at least seven innings to give some rest to the bullpen and help them finish the game. It didn’t happen that way. Personally, I don’t feel this was a good outing all. I didn’t achieve what I was looking for.”
The Reds, seeking to sweep a four-game series over the Cardinals for the first time since 2003, struck early against starter Michael Wacha with a Todd Frazier home run and Tucker Barnhart sacrifice fly. Wacha, who became the fifth National League pitcher to 16 wins, would not allow another run over his six-inning start.
“Michael set the tone,” Matheny said. “We don’t need Michael to be superhuman. We need Michael to go out and throw the kind of game that he can throw. … We like how Michael goes about his business and we know if he does his normal thing, we have a shot.”
The Cardinals sealed the victory with a five-run eighth, capped by a two-run home run from Matt Adams in his third at-bat since coming off the disabled list. With the victory, the Cardinals, who had lost eight of their last 10, maintained a 2 1/2-game lead over the Pirates in the NL Central.
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