By Joe Strauss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
CINCINNATI — Well, so much for new beginnings. Two games into the season’s second half and the Cardinals have re-familiarized themselves with old endings.
A bunch of little things again added up to a frustrating loss Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. A pitcher’s slippery grip contributed to an opponent’s run.
An inability to generate more than one hit with runners in scoring position torpedoed a second straight outcome.
Finally, a former teammate sitting on one pitch launched a 346-foot topspin serve to set off one team’s walk-off celebration and the other’s round of introspection.
The Cincinnati Reds dealt the Cardinals a 3-2 loss in 10 innings after a confluence of missed opportunities, intriguing moves and, in starting pitcher Kyle Lohse’s case, bad luck. After hoping to use last Sunday’s inspirational win to springboard into the second half, the Cardinals quickly confront the same allergic reaction to close games they had hoped to leave behind.
Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick ended an extended at-bat and the game by lining reliever Victor Marte’s full-count slider for his 13th home run. The drive, which followed several defensive swings against fastballs, capped a game the Cardinals never led.
“We’re not going to get where we want to go if we can’t win close games,” said third baseman David Freese. “You’re not going to win them all, but you’ve got to win your share.”
The Cardinals (46-42) dropped to 10-15 in one-run games, 14-23 in games decided by two runs or less and 2-6 in extra innings. They also fell 3½ games off the National League Central lead.
Ludwick, who earned a 2008 Silver Slugger Award with the Cardinals before being dealt to the San Diego Padres two years ago, reveled in the outcome.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t (sweeter),” he said. “I have a lot of respect for them. I was with them a long time, and I would never want to show them up. But it feels good.”
Touched for a third home run in his last five appearances, Marte (2-2) took the loss after the bullpen worked three shutout innings.
The Cardinals and Lohse trailed 2-0 before rallying for two seventh-inning runs against Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake. Leading off the inning, catcher Yadier Molina spoiled Leake’s shutout with his 14th home run, tying his career best. Shortstop Rafael Furcal then produced one of the season’s most inspired offensive plays by bunting for a one-out RBI single against a shifted infield. It also was his team’s only hit in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“It comes down to doing more in big situations,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We had trouble with it (Friday), and we had trouble with it today.”
Able to push a runner into scoring position in five of the first eight innings, the Cardinals scored in only one.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job with runners in scoring position overall. But it seems like we haven’t been able to get the big hit in these close games,” said first baseman Lance Berkman, who struck out with runners at second and third and none out in a seventh-inning pinch at-bat. “A lot of those numbers can be skewed in a game when we score 10 runs. It feels like when we have an opportunity to jump on a team in a close game, we haven’t been able to do that.”
Berkman’s at-bat was his first since May 19, when he tore cartilage in his knee.
The Cardinals are four for 21 with runners in scoring position in consecutive losses. They have stranded 11 runners in each loss. Hitting coach Mark McGwire observed afterward that hitters were reverting to their tendency for quick outcomes when a more disciplined approach would work better.
“It’s OK to swing early in the count,” McGwire said. “But when you do that, it should be against a pitch you can do something with. You shouldn’t be just trying to put it in play.”
“We just haven’t gotten the big hit,” said left fielder Matt Holliday, who had two chances with a runner in scoring position. “That’s how you win a close game. You get a hit with men on base. That hasn’t happened these two games.”
The Reds took a 1-0 lead when right fielder Jay Bruce drove a two-out double into the right-field corner to score second baseman Brandon Phillips, who had broken with the pitch from first base.
Just as hurtful, the Reds made it 2-0 in the sixth inning after Lohse elected to take the out at first base rather than third on Leake’s too-hard sacrifice bunt. Molina called for Lohse to go to third base; however, Lohse reconsidered when he failed to get a firm grip on a ball moistened by a wet infield. With runners at second and third, shortstop Zack Cozart lofted a one-out sacrifice fly.
“If I throw that ball I throw it in the stands and it’s a lot worse than taking the out,” Lohse said. “We had it. I turned around at (Freese) and I grabbed nothing but slick ball. I wasn’t going to take that chance.”
Once past Leake, the Cardinals had only one shot against the Reds’ dominant bullpen. After righthander Logan Ondrusek walked with the bases loaded, Matheny sent Matt Carpenter to pinch hit.
When Reds manager Dusty Baker countered with lefthander Bill Bray, Matheny reached for Tyler Greene, who had taken only five at-bats this month but homered in his only previous career at-bat against Bray. The appearance was the lefthanded specialist’s fourth since missing more than two months with a severe groin strain. Greene’s foul pop served as the Cardinals’ final at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
“Sometimes you just jump on a train and ride it to the playoffs,” Freese said. “But you’ve got to work for it. You have to execute. That’s the game. There has to be urgency. We’re fighting. But it’s time to win these ballgames.”
