By tiptoeing around six walks over his five-inning start on Thursday, John Lamb stalled the Cardinals’ pursuit of moving closer to clinching a postseason berth and secured his first Major League win in an 11-0 Reds victory to open a four-game series at Great American Ball Park.
The loss was St. Louis’ sixth in its last eight games, a stretch during which the team has been outscored, 52-20. The Cardinals’ lead in the National League Central stayed at 4 1/2 games, however, after the Pirates fell to the Brewers in 13 innings.
“It’s going to happen,” Jason Heyward said of the team’s recent funk. “You have to give the game credit sometimes. We’re not complacent. We’re not making excuses. We understand it’s still one day at a time. Sometimes it’s just not going to happen all the time.”
It took Lamb six starts and plenty of damage control in this one to earn his first victory on a night when the Reds tied a modern Major League record by starting a rookie pitcher for the 41st consecutive game. Lamb walked the first two batters he faced and six in total, but sprinkled in enough strikeouts (six) and other timely outs to keep the Cardinals from scoring.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He was very erratic with his command but he found a way to stay in there for five innings without giving up any runs and gave us a chance to take a lead and secure his first win.”
In the meantime, the Reds jumped on Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia for six runs over 4 1/3 innings. Garcia, who hadn’t allowed more than four runs in any of his previous 15 starts, gave up his first two on forceouts before the Reds broke out with a four-run fifth that chased him from the game. Joey Votto and Todd Frazier delivered run-scoring doubles in that frame.
Over the team’s last eight games, the Cardinals’ starting pitchers have posted a 6.80 ERA and averaged five innings a start.
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