ST. LOUIS — An inability to do much around the plate all evening other than throw Reds out near it caught up with the Cardinals when the snooze button on their offense lifted in the ninth.
The Cardinals had collected two outs at home plate on superb defensive plays but only one hit through the first eight innings of Cincinnati’s visit. When the Cardinals stirred for two singles and a walk in the ninth inning to bring the crowd to its feet, the late-arriving offense could not muster enough to overtake the Reds in a 3-2 loss at Busch Stadium on Thursday. Spells of moribund offense against some of the worst teams in the standings have been an annoyance when it comes to the division race, but are a recurring drag on the team’s momentum.
Brendan Donovan’s leadoff single in the ninth ended a streak of 15 consecutive batters without a hit, and the Cardinals got the ninth inning to Albert Pujols with the bases loaded and a chance to win with a single swing.
Sitting on career homer No. 697, Pujols sent a ball skyward and deep to right field, but not deep enough to clear the bases with history. It did make things interesting in the present. Pujols’ sacrifice fly — the 123rd of his career — scored Donovan and brought the tying run to the plate.
That was as far as the rally got.
Pinch-hitting Corey Dickerson chopped a grounder to third for the final out of the game to give Reds right-hander Alexis Diaz the wobbly but successful save, his seventh.
Miles Mikolas had a rather laborious start that included more work that genuine trouble but put the Cardinals behind all the same. Mikolas needed 101 pitches to complete six innings, and he allowed three runs on eight baserunners. Only once did Mikolas have brisk inning of three batters, and while he was able to weave around most of the hits he allowed two went for 400-foot homers that created the Reds lead.
Chase Anderson, who took two losses in the Cardinals’ three-game visit to Cincinnati last month, started the Reds’ stingy pitching with five solid innings. He allowed one run on one hit and two walks. Anderson retired the final six batters he faced to begin a streak of 15 consecutive Cardinals retired until Donovan’s single of Diaz.
