'Proud of the guys': Cards the picture of poise after dropping back leg of Reds DH

CINCINNATI -- The Cardinals are learning a lot about the character of their clubhouse after dropping a close-knit, 10-inning 6-5 thriller to the Reds.

The last five days have not been easy, that's for sure. They played a day game at home against Philadelphia and won it. They traveled to Chicago where they played three straight day games, won two of three and then traveled to Cincinnati for a day-night doubleheader.

After the Cardinals took the day game, 2-1, thanks to a two-run double from Alec Burleson and a combined three-hit effort from six pitchers, they were on the verge of sweeping the twin bill to give them four straight wins and six in seven games.

Then disaster struck at the worst possible moment.

Peter Strzelecki was an out away from earning his first win since June 6, 2023 with Milwaukee before pinch-hitter Dane Myers belted a solo homer to left on a 1-0 sinker to tie the game, 5-5. Strzelecki had thrown 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Andre Pallante before the ninth-inning shot.

“I told some of the guys, it feels like you're doing a marathon, and you get to the finish line, and right before the finish line, your hamstring or something goes,” Strzelecki said. “So it's like you get all the way to the finish line, and you just can't finish the job, and that's the toughest part man.”

It only got crazier and more frustrating from there.

The Cardinals thought they had runners on first and second with none out when Joshua Báez was hit on the right hand by an Emilio Pagán fastball. But first base umpire Edwin Moscoso ruled that Báez swung, keeping him in the batter’s box, where he eventually struck out.

After a José Fermín walk, Masyn Winn had a full count and was ready to take first on a checked swing. But an appeal to Moscoso sent Winn back to the dugout with the second out. Manager Oli Marmol put two fingers up, indicating his objection to the two calls.

“It’s a crucial moment in the game where we're trying to do our job, and trying to get on base and keep rolling,” Bryan Torres, whose single put the Cardinals up 5-4 in the eighth, said of Marmol. “Those things are tough, and we as players, we appreciate that we have a manager that’s always got our backs.”

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Everson Pereira grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the rally.

Elly De La Cruz doubled off Justin Bruihl to score Tyler Stephenson and give Cincinnati a 6-5 win in 10 innings, and the Cardinals a night to ponder what might have been. Strzelecki was as philosophical as he could be afterward.

“They say it's just one pitch,” Strzelecki said. “You went out there, you helped the team. Obviously in a doubleheader, you got a lot of innings as a staff to cover. So you’re helping your boys in the bullpen. You’re helping not only for today but for tomorrow. That’s why Bruihl having to go in the game, that's another part of that, that doesn't sit well with me.

“If I can complete the game there and do my job, he doesn't have to pitch. So, there's cause and effect with that outcome there. That's why for me, it's bigger than me. Like if we're up two and I give up the solo, I don't care.”

Run-scoring singles from Nathan Church and Blaze Jordan put the Cards up 4-1 in the sixth before Cincinnati tied it with three in the bottom of the inning.

Jordan Walker began the rally in the eighth against reliever Brock Burke with a single, and went 3-for-5 with two runs scored for the Cardinals, who missed the chance to move four games over .500 for the first time since July 19.

Pallante scattered 10 hits and four runs over six innings, striking out five and walking one against a lineup that had six of nine batters hitting below .220, including five hitting .205 or below.

“We competed for 19 innings today,” Pallante said. “ You have to be proud of the guys for doing that. It's not easy. It's definitely not easy. Game [126] and you're traveling. It's not a lot of people in the stands. A little bit more dull. You go from Chicago where it's packed, a high-adrenaline to a low and a little bit less-adrenaline environment, so we're going to play hard.”