Bruce homers as Reds shut down Cardinals

For the first time since September of 2011, the Cincinnati Reds have won a series on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals, thanks to another outstanding pitching performance.

Cardinals games are the highest-rated prime-time programming in St. Louis during the baseball season, and the local ratings ranked first among all Major League Baseball teams in 2014.

St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Randal Grichuk leaps for a home…

Bruce’s 17th home run moved him ahead of Barry Larkin into ninth in franchise history with 199 homers. It was the first time Cincinnati won consecutive games in the same series since June 2006.

DeSclafani (6-7) did the rest, walking three and striking out three.

Holliday was replaced in left field by starting first baseman Stephen Piscotty, with Mark Reynolds taking over at first and batting third.

After DeSclafani departed, J.J. Hoover worked the eighth and closer Aroldis Chapman pitched a clean ninth, ending the game with a strikeout of catcher Yadier Molina on a 102 miles per hour fastball for his 21st save of the season.

DeSclafani went through a rough patch for a period of about 8-10 starts, but he seems to have righted the ship of late, and that bodes quite well for a Reds team that has shed veteran pitcher after veteran pitcher in the last calendar year. The Cardinals have scored just seven runs in their last five games and all of their runs in the Reds series came on one swing of the bat: a fourth-inning grand slam by Kolten Wong on Monday.

The Cardinals offensive woes weren’t helped by the departure of Matt Holliday from the game after the first inning when he aggravated a right quad injury that cost him 31 games already this season. Walden threw 15 pitches, gave up a hit and a walk and struck out one in a scoreless outing.

With or without Holliday, the Cardinals’ offense has been below average in the last 26 games, managing only 88 runs and hitting less than. Holmberg’s presence means four of the five starters in the rotation are rookies.