Cardinals Lefty Sees Strong Outing Ruined by One Pitch in 5-4 Loss to Rival Reds

In a late-season showdown of top candidates for the National League Rookie of the Year award, Cardinals’ second baseman JJ Wetherholt won the first couple of rounds before Reds’ slugger Sal Stewart ultimately landed a knockout punch.

Wetherholt, the NL’s Wins Above Replacement and Outs Above Average leader among second basemen, doubled and singled off All-Star pitcher Chase Burns early in the game as the Cardinals built an early leader. However, the surging Stewart jumped all over a grooved 1-2 pitch from Matthew Liberatore and hit it 422 feet for a go-ahead homer.

Stewart might have edged into the lead for the Rookie of the Year award with the three-run shot that lifted the Reds to a 5-4 victory over the Cardinals at rainy Great American Ball Park.

Cardinals All-Star Jordan Walker smacked his career-best 25th homer with two outs in the ninth inning to make it a one-run game. Jose Fermin followed with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch, but Masyn Winn -- Tuesday's hero with a career-most three extra-base hits -- was retired on a 3-2 tapper that Emilio Pagan had to scramble to field and beat Winn at first by a step.

Wetherholt, who is trying to become the first Cardinals player to win the Rookie of the Year award since Albert Pujols in 2001, had two hits and scored in the ninth inning. Joshua Baez pinch hit in the sixth inning and delivered the first single of his career. After making MLB history with homers in his first three MLB at bats, Baez went 0 for 18 before the 109-mph line-drive single. He also added his first stolen base and walk later in the game. 

The Cardinals took a 2-0 into the bottom of the sixth inning before Stewart’s game-changing swat. The Reds then added on two more in the eighth thanks to two bunt singles that the Cardinals botched defensively.

"The tough part of this one is that you are facing a really tough arm (in Chase Burns) and you take the lead, but you're just not able to hold it to the end," manager Oliver Marmol said to Cardinals TV. "(All-Star closer) Riley (O'Brien) would have given you three (days) in a row to finish the game if we had the lead, which is awesome. These guys care, they want it and they want it bad. So, that's a tough one."   

After starting this three-city, 11-game road trip with wins in four of the first six games, the Cardinals fell in frustrating fashion on Wednesday. They stranded 11 runners and went just 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position.  

However, no one was more frustrated than Liberatore, who saw five innings of solid work ruined by one pitch to Stewart.

With the blossoming Burns facing off against the struggling Liberatore, the game seemingly had the potential to be a mismatch. As it turns out, that was exactly the case for five innings – only it was the veteran Liberatore getting the better of the young, promising Burns over the game’s first five innings.

The Cardinals scored twice in the fourth inning and built a 2-0 lead against Burns, who came into the game 14-2 with a 2.47 ERA. Wetherholt reached him for a third-inning double that left the bat at 103.5 mph, but teammate Blaze Jordan was thrown out at the plate after trying to score from first base.

In the fourth inning, the Cardinals converted twice with two strikes – Nathan Church going the other way for a single on a 0-2 pitch and Bryan Torres drilling a 2-2 slider into right to plate Church.

On the other side, Liberatore was as dominant as he’s been all season over the game’s first five innings. He caught Eugenio Suarez and Michael Toglia looking in the second inning and he struck out the side in the fourth inning with two more strikeouts looking. After breezing through the fifth inning with two more punchouts, the Cardinals sent Liberatore back out for the sixth inning where he encountered trouble.

Matt McLain started things with a one-out double and then Elly De La Cruz singled off the glove of a leaping Wetherholt, who couldn’t pull in the liner. Liberatore got ahead of Stewart, but his 1-2 fastball was in the middle of the plate and Stewart drilled it well over the wall in left center. Stewart’s 27th homer left the bat and it vaulted the Reds into the lead and the rookie into the MLB lead in RBI.