CINCINNATI — The opportunity the Cardinals failed to exploit early in the game came back around to haunt them later as the bullpen leaked and lost a lead.
As the Cardinals did with a series of walks in the fifth inning, the Reds, with the help of an error, loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning. The Cardinals failed to do anything with their opportunity. The Reds didn’t. The Reds won.
Cincinnati scored thrice against the Cardinals’ bullpen and overtook them for a 6-5 victory Friday night at Great American Ball Park. The game seesawed between the teams as Paul Goldschmidt drilled a pitch 448 feet for the first run of the game, Harrison Bader followed with a homer in the second inning, and the back and forth continued until Cincinnati seized on the week’s trend: the Cardinals’ recent run of misplaced leads, late. Reds reliever Heath Hembree, closing out games for a bullpen riddled by injury, struck out pinch-hitter Adam Wainwright — not Yadier Molina, who the Cardinals tried to get an off day — to secure the victory.
