RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesJul 26, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly de la Cruz (44) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images | Joe Puetz-Imagn Images
With heat indexes in triple digits, the St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday. Kyle Leahy was a trooper and not only gave the Cardinals a quality start, but also set a career-high for strikeouts. However, the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen would once again become an issue late.
The St. Louis Cardinal s were first to score in a back-and-forth affair Sunday afternoon. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Alec Burleson led off with a double. Masyn Winn singled which gave the Cardinals runners at first and third with no outs. José Fermín gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left. Unfortunately, that’s the only run the Cardinals would get in the 2nd inning as Nelson Velázquez lined out to center and Pedro Pagés fouled out to the catcher.
The St. Louis lead wouldn’t last long as Elly De La Cruz caught up with an 88 mph Kyle Leahy slider and launched it 410 feet for a homer tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the 3rd inning.
The Cardinals would seize the lead again in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Iván Herrera met an 81 mph sweeper and gave it a 411 foot ride giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
The Cincinnati Reds matched the Cardinals again in the top of the 5th inning when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a 91 mph four-seam fastball just far enough for a game-tying 387-foot home run locking the game at 2-2. That would be the last damage that Kyle Leahy would allow as he completed 6 strong innings striking out a career-high 9 batter while allowing just 6 hits and walking only 1.
With the game tied 2-2, the St. Louis bullpen entered the equation. Luis Gastelum did a solid job of keeping the Reds quiet in the top of the 7th inning. The Cardinals would threaten (sort of) in the bottom of the 7th inning when Lars Nootbaar would reach with a leadoff walk. Blaze Jordan flied out to deep center for the first out followed by Bryan Torres grounding out which moved Nootbaar into scoring position at second, but JJ Wetherholt was unable to make anything other than a groundout to first happen which ended the Cardinals scoring opportunity.
Ryne Stanek was the next St. Louis bullpen representative in the top of the 8th inning. He set the Reds down 1-2-3 which was a pleasant development. In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Cardinals would try to mount a two-out rally which started when Alec Burleson ripped a ball down the right field line which glanced off of Nathaniel Lowe’s glove. Masyn Winn moved Burleson into scoring position when he singled up the middle. That left the Cardinals 8th inning fate in the hands of José Fermín. He ended up reaching base to load the bases when the Cardinals successfully challenged catcher’s interference. Unfortunately, Lars Nootbaar flied out to left field to end the bottom of the 8th inning. The Cardinals RISP woes continue.
George Soriano entered the game in the top of the 9th inning as the TV dudes said Riley O’Brien was under the weather. All he needed to do to give St. Louis a walk-off opportunity was to keep the Reds off the board and he was successful as he only allowed an infield single to Marte.
Would the St. Louis Cardinals offense rise up and shock the world by scoring a run for a walk-off winner? Blaze Jordan weakly grounded out to first to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning off of Reds reliever Brock Burkes who made odd barking sounds after each pitch which was distracting. Jimmy Crooks was the next bat with an opportunity for hero status. He unfortunately struck out, but the Cardinals still had JJ Wetherholt with a chance to end the game in a great way. He did the opposite with a strikeout sending the game to extra innings.
The top of the 10th inning was Matt Svanson’s responsibility for the Cardinals. Tyler Stephenson was the Reds free runner at second base. It only took 2 pitches before he was standing at third as Jimmy Crooks allowed a passed ball to the backstop which the official scorer may have called a wild pitch, but this one’s on Crooks. He easily scored on a single by Sal Stewart to right field giving the Reds a 3-2 lead. Elly De La Cruz followed that with a single of his own giving Cincinnati runners at first and second with nobody out. Arroyo then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt moving runners up to second and third with just one out. Manager Oli Marmol then turned to Justin Bruihl for a lefty-on-lefty matchup against JJ Bleday. Could Bruihl be a hero and hold the Reds to just one extra innings run? Spoiler Alert: NOPE . He struck out Bleday for the second out which was crucial. The Cardinals then intentionally walked Suarez to load the bases setting up a force at any base. That brought up Lowe who already had two hits on the day. He sadly added another single to that effort which scored two more Reds giving Cincinnati a 5-2 10th inning lead.
We had heard about the bad reputation of the Reds bullpen. Could the Cardinals do anything against them? Well, Jordan Walker nearly injured himself tripping over first base on a ground out with free runner JJ Wetherholt at second base. Iván Herrera did manage a single into left moving JJ over to third which brought up Alec Burleson as the potential tying run. He looped a ball over short for a single scoring Wetherholt and bringing up the potential winning run to the plate in the form of Masyn Winn . Nathan Church smartly took Burleson’s place at first as the tying run pinch-runner. Masyn sadly struck out which brought up José Fermín as the Cardinals final hope with two outs. He flew out to left to end the game and give the Reds the series victory. BUMMER.
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