Cincinnati Reds: Michael Lorenzen slammed the door on the Cardinals

Eugenio Suarez and Brandon Dixon played long-ball in extras to lift the Cincinnati Reds over St. Louis. But, Michael Lorenzen deserves the game ball.

What Michael Lorenzen did in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon was a statement. The Cincinnati Reds have counted on Lorenzen all season out of the bullpen and he answered the bell again in St. Louis with the game on the line.

After Adolis Garcia scored in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 3 runs apiece, Jim Riggleman called upon Michael Lorenzen to start the ninth. Yario Munoz replaced Dakota Hudson to lead off the inning.

Munoz promptly blistered an 0-2 pitch from Lorenzen by the first base bag into right field. He made his way towards second and Munoz popped up, gestured to an excited St. Louis dugout, and just like that, the Cardinals had the winning run in scoring position with nobody out.

The NL’s home run leader Matt Carpenter was up next, and the Reds promptly intentionally walked him to first in order to bring up Francisco Pena. Pena tapped a bunt down the first base line that hung just on the inside of the foul line as he hustled towards the bag.

The Cardinals now had the bases loaded with nobody out. The winning run was 90 feet away. Even a pop fly into the outfield would likely score Munoz from third base. There’s no way that the Reds could escape this jam, right? Wrong!

Michael Lorenzen toed the rubber as 45,743 fans screamed with excitement over what would undoubtedly be a victory for their beloved Cardinals. Lorenzen battled with Jose Martinez and got him to strike out swinging at a ball in the dirt.

With Brandon Dixon joining Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett, Jose Peraza, and Eugenio Suarez along the infield, the Cincinnati Reds had built an impenetrable wall. No ground ball was getting through. And it didn’t. Lorenzen forced a ground ball out of Marcell Ozuna. Gennett picked it cleanly and fired home in time to get Munoz.

With two outs in the inning, Dixon retreated to right field, and the Reds returned to a normal defensive alignment. Lorenzen repeatedly pounded the strike zone against the Cardinals’ Paul DeJong, and on a 0-2 pitch, DeJong sent a ball skyward into the waiting glove of Scooter Gennett.

Lorenzen took an improbable set of circumstances, stared down some of the best bats the Cardinals have and sent them back to the dugout. The Reds would play long-ball in the 10th inning, as Suarez and Dixon each popped round-trippers into over the left field wall. Cincinnati went on to win by a score of 6-4.

The series win was the Cincinnati Reds’ third against the Redbirds this season. Cincinnati travels to Pittsburgh next to take on the Pirates with a 1:30 PM ET first-pitch on Monday.