ST. LOUIS — Cardinals right-hander John Gant made his first career start against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen them before, and hadn’t dominated them before, at Busch Stadium.
As a reliever, which he has been mostly for the Cardinals since they got him in December, 2016, from Atlanta, Gant had held the Reds to two hits in 35 at-bats at Busch. As a starter, which he says he enjoys because he gets to play for two hours rather than 20 minutes as a reliever, Gant accomplished much the same thing Saturday.
Through five innings, or 15 at-bats, Gant limited the Reds to one hit and no runs.
The Reds put together back-to-back singles by Jesse Winker and Nicholas Castellanos with one out in the sixth. But after a visit from pitching coach Mike Maddux, Gant retired Joey Votto on a fly ball that center fielder Dylan Carlson ran down at the warning track and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt picked a low throw from shortstop Paul DeJong, who had fielded Eugenio Suarez’s grounder in the hole.
Gant was on the field just more than an hour-and-a-half but he managed six scoreless innings out of just 80 pitches and the Cardinals’ bullpen preserved a 2-0 victory.
The Cardinals almost always beat the Reds at Busch III. The Cardinals are 83-45 against the Reds, representing their most wins against any club here.
After a rain delay of 2 hours, 20 minutes, the Cardinals poked three singles off Cincinnati left-hander Wade Miley in the first inning for a run driven home by Nolan Arenado’s hit to right. Tommy Edman and Carlson, who had three hits, had begun the inning with singles.
Edman scored the first run and then helped prevent damage in the Reds’ second by spearing Tucker Barnhart’s hard one-hopper and starting a double play, via DeJong and Goldschmidt.
Gant needed only 39 pitches, fanning three, through three innings as he headed for his first win as a starter since Sept. 9, 2018 at Detroit. Then, Edman came to the rescue again.
With Votto at first and one out in the fourth, Suarez sent a scorching one-hopper ticketed for right field. But Edman dived head-long to snare the ball before it got to the grass and recovered to turn the play into a forceout. Gant went unscathed when Tyler Naquin flied to left fielder Tyler O’Neill.
Andrew Knizner, replacing injured catcher Yadier Molina, nearly popped his first homer of the season but his drive to left center hit the wall and bounced back into play in the sixth. But O’Neill, who had walked with two out, scampered home from first for the Cardinals’ second run.
Left-hander Genesis Cabrera, striking out at least one hitter in his seventh consecutive appearance, rolled through a perfect seventh. Giovanny Gallegos hit the first batter he faced in the eighth but that runner didn’t move off first base, with the inning ending on Castellanos’ liner to third baseman Arenado.
Gallegos then was allowed to finish for his first save of the season. His ninth was perfect as the Reds finished with just three hits.
