Cardinals rally to defeat Reds, 2-1

ST. LOUIS Lifeless for seven innings, the Cardinals awoke in the bottom of the eighth and overcame the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, on Monday night in front of 43,902 at Busch Stadium III.

The Cardinals lost three of four in a series at Cincinnati earlier this month, one of them to left-hander John Lamb. The host team looked similarly befuddled by Lamb this time. The left-hander hurled six shutout innings, allowing five hits and striking out five.

Meanwhile, the Reds plated a first-inning run against Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia, cashing in a walk and two hits. But the lefty settled in to pitch seven strong frames, allowing no more damage, giving the Cardinals chance.

“He kept us in the game until the offense could get something going, because we couldn’t do anything with Lamb,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

As the Cardinals batted in the eighth against Reds reliever J.J. Hoover, the single run still stood as the difference. Things changed dramatically.

Recent sensation Tommy Pham led off the fateful frame with a triple to the center-field wall. Jason Heyward followed with a smash up the middle, but Hoover deflected the ball to second baseman Phillips who threw out Heyward. Pham held third.

But with one out, struggling Jhonny Peralta shot a line single to right and Pham trotted home, tying the score at 1. No sooner had one rookie crossed the plate, another rookie gave the Cardinals the lead.

Stephen Piscotty hammered a drive to the wall in left, chasing pinch-runner Peter Bourjos home all the way from first. Piscotty wound up at third on the throw home. He was credited with a double and the 33rd run batted in of the season. In a blink, the Cardinals led 2-1.

Trevor Rosenthal came on to close the game in the ninth. Although he allowed two singles and the tying run to reach second, he dodged the bullet to record his 47th and tie the club record shared by Jason Isringhausen and Lee Smith.

The Cardinals (94-56) again play host to the Reds (63-86) at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, with John Lackey (12-9) opposing Keyvius Sampson (2-5).

(c)2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.