Reds blank Cardinals 8-0 to win series

The Reds have every reason to take a moment and savor the flavor of a rare series win at Busch Stadium. Sunday’s 8-0 victory over the Cardinals not only gave Cincinnati two of three games, but also just its fourth series win out of the last 29 at St. Louis since 2006.

It was July 27-29, 2015, when the Reds last came to town and took a series from the Cardinals. Sunday’s win was powered by Adam Duvall’s 3-for-4, two-RBI game while starting pitcher Scott Feldman cruised with six-plus scoreless innings, allowing four hits with one walk and collecting six strikeouts for his first win with the Reds. More >

“It’s not facing demons and ghosts of series in years past. Our team is better than it’s been in the last few years, with a lot of new guys that just want to come in and play baseball, play hard and play well,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “We pitched two shutouts here. Not only is that unlikely, but to come in here and be able to do and extract two wins is a big deal for us in the early start of a season.”

Coming off of 7 1/3 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts on Opening Day vs. the Cubs, Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez fared poorly in his second outing. Martinez pitched five-plus innings with six runs (five earned), six hits, one walk, three strikeouts and he hit two batters. A four-run top of the sixth — which included three Cardinals errors — knocked him from the game before he could record an out in the inning.

“Stuff looked pretty good,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Martinez. “Just looked like he had trouble really putting it where he wanted to. That’s the difference between today and a week ago. He was so sharp putting pitches where he wanted to. … Some days it’s just not going to be as sharp.”

Duvall made it a 1-0 game leading off the second inning with his second home run of the season, a drive into the left-field bullpen. In the fifth inning, Zack Cozart extended his hitting streak to six games with an RBI triple that scored Scott Schebler for a two-run lead.

Cincinnati notched its third shutout of the week, including both wins over the Cardinals. It won Friday’s opener, 2-0, before being blown out with a 10-4 loss Saturday.

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