Piscotty gets go-ahead hit, Cardinals beat Reds 2-1

Lee Smith established the record in 1991, and Jason Isringhausen tied it in 2004.St. Louis upped its division lead over Pittsburgh to 4 1/2 games, pending the outcome of the Pirates’ game in Colorado.Neither starter was involved in the decision despite pitching well enough to merit a win. The Cardinals broke the tie in the seventh when Pham hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field off Sam LeCure (0-2). He was batting.400 with a double and three RBIs in nine games…. The next batter up was Piscotty and he was able to find the left-center field gap for an RBI double as pinch-runner Peter Bourjos came all the way around from first to score, which gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

It was also Bruce’s fourth homer in his last eight games. The Reds continued to struggle to get runs across as they plated only one run despite racking up hits.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Kolten Wong watches his sacrifice fly to score Jhonny Peralta during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, September 22, 2015, in St. Louis.

The Stanford product has delivered time and again in key moments for the Cardinals in the second half and boasts the team’s best average at.309.

Lackey induced three ground-ball double plays in the first five innings that thwarted rallies and brought his National League-leading total to 28.

Frazier made an even better play the next inning when he caught a foul ball while falling over a railing into the camera well by the Reds’ dugout.

Brayan Pena led off the seventh with a liner up the middle that hit Lackey on the backside, but he remained in the game. “They didn’t create bigger problems by walking hitters”.

“In the offseason, when I was trying to develop a little more power, I realized that you have to give up something to get something”, Piscotty said. Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward hardly moved as the ball traveled 456 feet, the longest for a left handed hitter in the history of Busch Stadium.

Meanwhile, Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton will undergo arthroscopic shoulder surgery Friday, ending his season.

Joey Votto drew his 136th walk, in the sixth, breaking his own franchise record set in 2013. He singled twice in three at-bats before being lifted for a pinch runner. Molina was relieved to hear he would not need surgery after sustaining a slight ligament tear Sunday.

“My grandpa was a good player back in the day”, said Piscotty, a Stanford graduate who majored in atmosphere and energy engineering. “That was good news”.

In keeping with his modus operandi this season, Garcia was unfazed and settled in for a solid seven innings of work, fanning five and allowing just three hits after that first inning. For Wednesday’s game the Reds start Brandon Finnegan who makes his second start for the Reds after allowing three hits and a run while striking out 8 over 7.2 innings donce being traded to Cincinnati from the Royals.

The under is a ideal 5-0 in the last five meetings between these two teams in St. Louis and 10-2 in the last 12 meetings overall.