After blowing a sizable lead in the late innings, the Reds’ bullpen was picked up by Joey Votto. It was his home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave Cincinnati a 7-6 walk-off victory over St. Louis on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park for its fifth win in its last six games.
Facing lefty Kevin Siegrist with one out, Votto lifted a 2-0 pitch and saw it carry into the left-center field bullpen for the game winner. According to Statcast™, it went an estimated 411 feet. It was also Votto’s 11th long ball of the season and his fifth career walk-off homer.
“I got into a good count and stood behind the ball and made a good move on it, and I ended up finishing the game,” said Votto, who came into the at-bat 0-for-10 in 15 career plate appearances vs. Siegrist. “For every one of those, there’s 50 misses. I’m glad I didn’t miss that one.”
Pitching in Cincinnati for the first time as a visitor, Cardinals starter Mike Leake saw his hot stretch of starts end abruptly in a no-decision. Leake, who was with the Reds from 2010-15 and a free-agent signing by the Cardinals in the offseason, finished with six earned runs and 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts. He came into the night 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA over his last five starts.
A four-run fourth inning, including Adam Duvall’s three-run homer, gave Cincinnati a 4-1 lead. It stretched to 6-1 in the seventh for Reds starter John Lamb, who topped the career-high he established in his previous start by working 7 1/3 innings with three runs (one earned), four hits, two walks and five strikeouts, but the lead evaporated in the late innings.
“The first two guys that got on base were [because of] decent pitches, and then that pitch [Duvall] hit for a home run wasn’t a bad pitch, but it wasn’t the greatest pitch,” Leake said. “I think they just, they hit some good pitches, they also hit some bad pitches. They had a pretty good game.”
Two errors by second baseman Brandon Phillips proved critical in letting St. Louis back in the game and led to three runs in the eighth — including Jhonny Peralta’s two-run double — that made it a two-run game. Reliever Tony Cingrani gave up three hits in the ninth, including the game-tying two-run double by Matt Carpenter. He was still awarded the victory, as he was the pitcher of record when Votto went deep.
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