Cincinnati Reds Rout Cardinals, John Lamb Earns First MLB Win

W: John Lamb (1-3)

L: Jaime Garcia (8-5)

It took six tries, but John Lamb finally picked up his first major league win. To make things even sweeter for the Cincinnati Reds rookie, it came in an 11-0 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Lamb weaved his way in and out of danger throughout his five innings of work. He walked the first two batters he faced, but struck out the next two and induced a weak pop-up to escape the jam. The lefty would walk four more batters to set a career-high, but kept the scoreboard clean. Lamb also struck out six and surrendered only three hits.

Todd Frazier led the offensive charge, going 3-for-5 with three runs scored, a double, a homer and three runs batted in. Joey Votto also reached base three times on his 32nd birthday, while Brandon Phillips knocked in a trio of runs.

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The Reds got on the board early with a pair of run-scoring ground outs. Along with his first career win, Lamb picked up his first run batted in on a fielder’s choice in the second and Phillips picked up his first RBI of the night with on a ground out in the third.

The first big inning came in the fifth, when four Reds crossed the plate. Billy Hamilton singled and Jason Bourgeois walked to start the frame, and each of the Reds’ next four batters drove home a run.

Votto brought home Hamilton with an RBI double, followed by a sacrifice fly from Phillips to score Bourgeois. Another double, this one by Frazier, scored the third run of the inning and knocked Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia from the game. Garcia had been red-hot, coming into the game with a 1.89 ERA and 0.95 WHIP for the season.

A new Cardinals pitcher didn’t slow down the Reds’ offense, as Jay Bruce‘s sacrifice fly made it 6-0 in favor of the Reds.

Cincinnati would add three more in the seventh on a solo home run by Phillips and a pinch-hit, two-run double by Skip Schumaker.

For good measure, Frazier smacked his 32nd home run of the season in the eighth, a two-run shot to make it a double-digit game.

Meanwhile, the Reds’ bullpen kept the shutout going, as Tony Cingrani, Manny Parra, Sam LeCure and Ryan Mattheus combined to allow only two hits over the final four innings.

Other Notes:

• The 11-run margin was the largest in a Reds win over the Cardinals since June 4, 1971.
• Joining Votto and Frazier in the multi-hit club was Eugenio Suarez, who went 2-for-5. Bourgeois (single, two walks) and Jay Bruce (single, walk) also reached base twice.

Up Next: The Reds and Cards are back at it on Friday for game two of the four-game set at 7:10 p.m. ET. Michael Lorenzen will start for the Reds, while John Lackey will get the ball for St. Louis.

Next: Series preview: Cardinals vs. Reds