ST. LOUIS — Jose Quintana extended his Cardinals record to nine games at the start of his career with them in which he allowed two earned runs or fewer. But Saturday night's game against Cincinnati was his best.
The 33-year-old left-hander permitted just two hits over eight scoreless innings, striking out six and getting 11 ground-ball outs. He had to be good because fire-balling Hunter Greene, throwing a record 46 pitches of at least 100 miles per hour, was blanking the Cardinals.
Quintana, whose outing was his longest since he shut out Milwaukee while pitching for the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 24, 2017, got only a pat on the back and internal satisfaction for his efforts because the Cardinals' offense struck out 16 times against Reds pitching while Quintana was on the mound.
But the Cardinals nailed down a doubleheader sweep anyway, shoving across the only run of the game in the 11th inning, treating a sellout crowd of 48,299 to a 1-0 victory.
Their magic number for clinching the National League Central Division title is nine.
Paul Goldschmidt, who had struck out four times, delivered the only run in the 11th on a grounder to center fielder Nick Senzel, who was playing third in the five-man infield defense with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Senzel made a diving stop but his throw home hit Andrew Knizner in the left elbow and rolled away. The Reds protested that Knizner had interfered but to no avail.
With Knizner the automatic runner at second, Brendan Donovan walked against Fernando Cruz, who had started for the Reds the previous night. Tommy Edman, sacrificing, beat out a bunt when Cruz hesitated before throwing to first.
The winning pitcher was Steven Matz, who wasn't even on the roster in the afternoon but was taken off the injured list when right-hander Jordan Hicks had to be placed on the IL with arm fatigue and neck spasms.
The Cardinals had missed a huge chance in the 10th when they had the bases loaded with one out facing a five-man Reds infield. Knizner looped a popup to short left center where shortstop Jose Barrero and left fielder TJ Friedl converged on the ball.
At the last instant, Friedl snatched the ball from Barrero and fired home to get Corey Dickerson, who had tagged up.
