Cincinnati Reds Drop Series to Cardinals with Shutout Loss

W: Michael Wacha (13-4)

L: Michael Lorenzen (3-7)

SV: Trevor Rosenthal (32)

In a rain-filled afternoon at Great American Ball Park, the Cincinnati Reds couldn’t secure their second straight series win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, losing in shutout fashion, 3-0.

Following a rain delay that lasted over an hour, Michael Lorenzen came out strong with a 10 pitch first inning and it looked like he could be on his way to a nice outing. But as has been the case in many of the rookie’s starts, he couldn’t throw strikes consistently and it came back to bite him.

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Lorenzen worked around two walks through the first three innings to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard, but they got to him in the fourth. Cardinals backup catcher Tony Cruz drove home the first run with two outs in the inning, but it may have been prevented if Lorenzen hadn’t walked Kolten Wong two batters earlier after being up 0-2 in the count.

He allowed two more two-out runs in the fifth when Wong lined a two-run single up the middle. Much like the first run Lorenzen surrendered, this one could have been prevented as well. After Matt Carpenter led the inning off with a double, Lorenzen hit Stephen Piscotty, who was trying to give himself up with a bunt.

Lorenzen was done after five innings and 93 pitches, having given up three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out five.

Burke Badenhop, Pedro Villarreal, and Dylan Axelrod relieved Lorenzen, combining to allow just one baserunner in four shutout innings, but it wouldn’t matter as the Reds’ offense couldn’t get anything going.

The Reds stretched their scoreless streak to 18 innings, managing only five hits on the day. They managed only four hits and two walks against starter Michael Wacha, never getting more than one runner on base in any inning against him. Jonathan Broxton allowed a pair of baserunners in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal put on two more in the ninth, but the Reds weren’t able to capitalize in what ended up being their only real scoring chances in the game.

Other Notes:

• While most of the Reds’ offense failed to get anything going, that was not the case for Joey Votto. He reached base in all four of his at-bats, doubling and walking three times.
• Eugenio Suarez also had a nice game, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
• Billy Hamilton had the day off after going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in Wednesday’s loss. Jason Bourgeois took Hamilton’s place center and, for some reason, the .175 hitter batted second.

Up Next: The Reds will travel to Phoenix on Thursday to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Raisel Iglesias will be on the mound for the Reds, hoping to build on a strong outing in his last start. He’ll be opposed by Chase Anderson. First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m. EST.

Next: The latest Reds minor league report