Reds walk-off against Cards

Reds walk-off against Cards

MLB.com CINCINNATI — After blowing a sizable lead in the late innings, the Reds' bullpen was picked up by Joey Votto. It was his home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave Cincinnati a 7-6 walk-off victory over St. Louis on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park for its fifth win in its last six games.

Facing lefty Kevin Siegrist with one out, Votto lifted a 2-0 pitch and saw it carry into the left-center field bullpen for the game winner. According to Statcast™, it went an estimated 411 feet. It was also Votto's 11th long ball of the season and his fifth career walk-off homer.

'I got into a good count and stood behind the ball and made a good move on it, and I ended up finishing the game,' said Votto, who came into the at-bat 0-for-10 in 15 career plate appearances vs. Siegrist. 'For every one of those, there's 50 misses. I'm glad I didn't miss that one.'

Pitching in Cincinnati for the first time as a visitor, Cardinals starter Mike Leake saw his hot stretch of starts end abruptly in a nodecision. Leake, who was with the Reds from 201015 and a free-agent signing by the Cardinals in the offseason, finished with six earned runs and 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts. He came into the night 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA over his last five starts.

A four-run fourth inning, including Adam Duvall's three-run homer, gave Cincinnati a 4-1 lead. It stretched to 6-1 in the seventh for Reds starter John Lamb, who topped the career-high he established in his previous start by working 7 1/3 innings with three runs (one earned), four hits, two walks and five strikeouts, but the lead evaporated in the late innings.

'The first two guys that got on base were [because of] decent pitches, and then that pitch [Duvall] hit for a home run wasn't a bad pitch, but it wasn't the greatest pitch,' Leake said. 'I think they just, they hit some good pitches, they also hit some bad pitches. They had a pretty good game.'

Two errors by second baseman Brandon Phillips proved critical in letting St. Louis back in the game and led to three runs in the eighth — including Jhonny Peralta's two-run double -that made it a two-run game. Reliever Tony Cingrani gave up three hits in the ninth, including the game-tying two-run double by Matt Carpenter. He was still awarded the victory, as he was the pitcher of record when Votto went deep.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Trade dividends: Before last summer's Trade Deadline, the Reds traded Leake to the Giants for two players that included Duvall. In the bottom of the fourth, it was Duvall who bested Leake with his three-run homer to left field. It was his team-leading 17th homer of the season, his fourth in five games and 10th in the last 15. According to Statcast™, the exit velocity on this long ball was 110 mph and it traveled 425 feet.

Peralta doubles twice in debut: Peralta jumpstarted his 2016 campaign with a two-double, two-RBI game. His first came in the fourth inning, advancing Stephen Piscotty, who eventually scored, to third. His second came on a 2-1 pitch during the Cardinals' eighth-inning rally, bringing two baserunners home before he was lifted for a pinch runner. Peralta has been on the disabled list since March after he had surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament.

'He had a nice program for rehab,' Cardinals' manager Mike Matheny said. 'We liked where he was, obviously. Came in today with two big doubles. We needed that, we needed a little spark there, and he provided it.'

Lamb keeps it up: On the heels of the first seveninning start of his career at Colorado on Wednesday, Lamb turned in a new career high with 7 1/3 innings vs. St. Louis. At one point, Lamb retired 10 in a row. He came out of the game with 112 pitches after Phillips' error on Carpenter's grounder. Lamb believed these last two starts were the best he's felt on the mound.

By Mark Sheldon and Cody Pace