CINCINNATI -- The Cardinals proved Saturday night that you can still win games by making the other team simply put the ball in play.
Michael McGreevy allowed just one run over six strong innings while Willson Contreras and Pedro Pagés belted towering home runs to power the Cardinals past the Reds, 4-2, at Great American Ball Park.
In tossing 93 pitches, McGreevy (6-2) limited the Reds to just one run on five hits, walking two while striking out none. It was the first time in 12 games (11 starts) this season he has not struck out a batter, one start after striking out a career-high seven in a Cardinals win over the Pirates.
“To start the game, they were swinging early,” McGreevy said. “I was laughing. I can't get strikeouts if I'm not getting two strikes or not even letting me get to two strikes. But baseball is a funny game. You get a career high on strikeouts the start before. Then today, it's absolutely zero. Yeah, it's crazy. Hey, we win. That's all that matters.”
As a matter of fact, none of the four Cardinals hurlers struck out a batter in the game just three days after the Dodgers struck out a club-record (for a nine-inning game) 19 Cincinnati batters on Wednesday night.
“Crazy,” said Cards skipper Oliver Marmol. “That's tough. I mean, it really is. And it's just a lot of those balls that were on the ground. I think McGreevy had 12 of them.”
The last time the Cardinals made it through a whole game without striking anyone out came in an 11-0 road loss on June 24, 2009, against the Mets. The last such occurrence in a St. Louis win came just two months earlier on April 22, also against the Mets, at Busch Stadium.
McGreevy finished August with a 4-0 record and a 3.50 ERA in six starts, all of which featured him throwing exactly six innings.
“Yeah, that's consistent, it's pretty cool,” McGreevy said with a big smile. “I would be lying if I didn't think I wasn't thinking of that [Friday] night. I was like, ‘Come on, that'd be pretty cool. Let's go. Let's try to get six the whole month of August,’ because July wasn't a very good one for me. But I was stoked on that.”
With Marmol staying away from several arms in the bullpen, Kyle Leahy recorded the final out of the eighth and pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save this season and second of his career.
“I feel good,” Leahy said. “I mean, just like everybody else, this is what I train to do. This is what I work hard for in the offseason and work for all year. So, I do my best to take care of my body, and I want to finish strong.”
The Cardinals clinched the series and won their third straight game, and fourth in six games.
The game featured a bizarre double play to end the St. Louis first inning. With one out, Iván Herrera singled and advanced to third on a double from Lars Nootbaar. After Contreras worked a walk against Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott, Jordan Walker skied a popup over the mound.
With the bases loaded, home-plate umpire Sean Barber immediately called infield fly, with Walker called out. Abbott threw home but then with runners breaking from first and second, catcher Jose Trevino threw to second. Contreras was safe at second, but second baseman Matt McLain then threw home, and Herrera was easily tagged out between third and home, as third base was occupied by Nootbaar.
Marmol received clarification from third-base umpire D.J. Reyburn, and understood the call.
“I was talking to D.J. It's hard to make that call any earlier, but at the same time, if you're a baserunner, it's too late,” Marmol said. “So, there's some confusion there of not hearing the call and then seeing the ball drop taken off. So that's a complicated one for everybody, not just the baserunner, but for the umpire. So, hard to get mad at it, but big part of the game.”
It was easier to laugh when Contreras blasted a Statcast-estimated 431-foot homer deep to left-center field against Connor Phillips in the seventh, and Pagés belted his 11th of the season -- and fifth this month -- one inning later.
“Pagés has another big homer, and Contreras sits on that and hits it a long ways. It's good to see out of him, as well,” Marmol said. “So, that was a fun one. A lot of moving parts to that one, but definitely a fun game.”