On this beautiful Sunday afternoon the Cardinals took on the Cincinnati Reds in Great American Ball Park. What followed was a fierce competition between professional athletes.

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The Skinny

Carlos Martinez took the mound for El Birdos. The flame-throwing right hander was once again good, his final line a bit deceiving at six innings pitched, seven hits and five walks, but he also had five strikeouts and three double plays turned behind him.

The Cardinals offense put up five runs against the Reds, three against starter Tim Adleman and two against the aptly named Jumbo Diaz.

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Did the Cardinals homer?

Yes, they did! Twice in fact. Randal Grichuk smacked an opposite field home run that scored Stephen Piscotty in the second inning to give the Cardinals a two-nothing lead. Kolten Wong then mashed a dinger into right field for a solo shot in the fifth to extend the lead to three-nothing.

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The Mike Matheny teachable moment of the game

Martinez ran into trouble in the seventh inning allowing a single, a double, and a single without recording an out. He was then pulled in favor of Zach Duke, who was able to get out the inning without more damage done, though there was some clenching. This does not seem too out of the ordinary. The context, however, changes things. Martinez was left in to bat in the top of the seventh after inducing a double play to barely escape a bases-loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the sixth. At eighty-eight pitches, that probably should have been his last inning of work.

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Stephen Piscotty’s word of the f*****g game

Piscotty went swear-less this game, as far as this recapper could tell. He really had no reason to swear, unless it was a swear of jubilation. This foul-mouthed outfielder went one for four, reached via error, and scored two runs, plus stole a base.

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Clenching

The play of the game probably happened in the bottom of the seventh when all the unpleasantness began. After relieving Martinez, Duke promptly earned a lineout for the first out of the inning, but then gave up a single to Joey Votto and was a bit unlucky on a single off of him off the bat of Tyler Holt. Scott Schebler came up to bat with the bases loaded and one out and hit a fly ball to mid left field. Moss came up throwing and fired a strike to Yadier Molina for the double play [LINK].

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Bullet Points:

• The Cardinals turned four double plays on the day, which definitely helped a not-as-sharp Carlos Martinez. Martinez was also able to garner strikeouts when he needed them most to escape jams.
• Billy Hamilton left the game in the third after holding up on swing with an apparent oblique injury.
• Kolten Wong got the start at second and played wonderfully. He probably has the quickest turn at second of any infielder on the team.
• Also, it is weird it that Jedd Gyorko plays shortstop while Greg Garcia plays third, right?
• Carson Kelly has been called up!
• Oh, September 4 is the anniversary of that time Matt Adams dingered twice in extra innings against the Reds. This is also the anniversary of the end of Allen Craig’s career as that was the game he was injured in.

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A win probability chart:

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A win probability Heart:

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Lil’ Scooter’s lil’ player of the game

This prestigious award goes to Randal Grichuk, who led all players with .161 win probability added, his two-run homer in the second inning to break the scoreless tie contributing to most of that.

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Tomorrow

The Cardinals will travel to Pittsburgh for an afternoon Labor Day game against the Pirates. Adam Wainwright will square off against someone on the Pirates, probably. Game time is 3:05pm CST.