Cardinals open series vs Reds on WJBC tonight

“I told myself, don’t get beat by the fastball”, Wong said.

One could say Wong accomplished both objectives.

It was the latest in a growing list of clutch homers for the second-year major-leaguer. 500 and 20 games behind the Cardinals for the top spot in the division.

Iglesias (1-3) said through a translator that after giving up a leadoff double to Yadier Molina in the fourth, he “tried to be flawless”.

“He doesn’t shy away from any situation”, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “It was one of those where you hit it and you know you hit it with everything you’ve got, so if it doesn’t go out it’s a tough time”. The dugouts were warned in the sixth after Iglesias, who hit three batters, plunked Peter Bourjos for the second time.

Iglesias fell behind Kolten Wong 3-1.

“He made the adjustment”, Iglesias said, speaking through an interpreter. “So I have to come back with something hard in the middle, and you saw the outcome”. Iglesias hit two in 34 2-3 innings prior to this start.

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Raisel Iglesias throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, July 27, 2015, in St. Louis.

While St. Louis (64-35) made the most of its opportunity with the sacks packed, Cincinnati (43-54) didn’t do enough damage to Lynn when it loaded the bases with no outs in the third. That one run could have been much more in the third, but Lynn worked himself out of a bases loaded jam. After a single, hit batter and a walk, Lynn gave up a sac fly to Jay Bruce, then got Brayan Pena to ground into a double play. “Lance didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he was battling”.

Lynn (8-5) allowed five hits in seven innings, improving to 7-3 all time against the Reds. His grand slam and 11th homer of the season was all the scoring the Cardinals needed in their 4-1 win over the Reds on Monday night. The Cardinals are looking to add reinforcements through the trade market to help preserve their 6 1/2-game lead in the National League Central, but they’ll get back a key piece from the disabled list with Jaime Garcia taking the mound Tuesday. “After the foul ball my stomach started feeling bad”, Molina said. Randal Grichuk was out of the lineup after tweaking his groin Sunday.