Scott's key bunt embodies Cardinals' style in sweep of Reds

ST. LOUIS -- With the Cardinals closing in on a sweep of the Reds on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium, it felt like the team was just a swing away from being able to find an opening in a tie game.

As it turned out, the key swing wasn’t a swing at all.

Instead, it was a bunt by Victor Scott II that helped propel the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory.

Scott’s left-on-left numbers have been a strength to this point in the season, but after José Fermín and Nelson Velázquez led off the bottom of the eighth inning with back-to-back singles, the situation called for the Cardinals' center fielder to lay one down.

Scott dropped the bunt into the Bermuda Triangle of the infield grass with just enough authority to nudge Reds reliever Sam Moll into a bold idea -- he aimed to get the lead runner at third base.

But after Moll was the goat in Lars Nootbaar’s hero story on Saturday, it happened to him again on Sunday. Moll’s throw sailed on Reds third baseman Sal Stewart, down the left-field line to allow the go-ahead Cardinal run to score. Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save in as many days, securing the sweep over the Reds.

Scott's key moment encapsulated the Cardinals’ preferred style of play.

“Another thing we talk about is … being tough,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Being a tough at-bat. Putting the ball in play. Not having a ton of swing-and-miss in our lineup, one through nine. Making them earn it. Putting pressure on the defense. Forcing them to actually make plays. And we did a lot of that today.”

For Scott, his bunt in a clutch moment was a reflection of the hours of work he’s put into the craft.

“You talk about working at it -- it’s every day.” Marmol said. “There are the times where it doesn’t go his way, but that’s part of this. We talk about growth, you’re going to have times where it doesn’t go your way. But he’s committed to it.

“To be able to know, everyone in the stadium knows he’s doing it, and to be able to lay it down there, put pressure on them to make a mistake and it leads to a victory -- that’s a big part of the game.”

Throughout a long season, the results won’t always align with the work. But Sunday, it did.

“I just try to work as hard as I can at it and feel as prepared as possible to go out there and execute my job,” Scott said. “Sometimes you’re gonna miss at it -- and that’s OK. But all the work that I’ve done with that, just knowing that I have that confidence to be able to do so.”

A fielding error by Matt McLain following Scott’s eighth-inning bunt plated another Cardinal run, bringing the tally of runs scored against the Cincinnati bullpen in the series to 13.

Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy’s day had only a couple of hiccups -- and he scheduled them consecutively.

McLain and Tyler Stephenson went back-to-back against McGreevy in the top of the third inning to put the Reds ahead, 2-0. But from there, the Cardinals' right-hander found his footing with three scoreless frames to navigate a quality start for the eighth time in 13 starts this season.

McGreevy holding the Reds at bay after the third inning allowed the Cardinals the opportunity for another come-from-behind win. Left fielder Bryan Torres roped a go-ahead two-run home run to cap a three-run fifth inning after doubles by Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker got the Cardinals on the board.

McLain became a thorn in the side of Cardinal pitching yet again when he tagged reliever George Soriano with his second home run of the game in the seventh. But the deflating swing was mere window dressing for an eighth-inning rally that cemented the Cardinals’ 19th comeback win, tying them for third-most in MLB with the Dodgers, and trailing only the Braves (23) and Diamondbacks (21).

“We continue to do a nice job of just staying focused,” Marmol said. “That’s a big part of this. You can easily get distracted and start to think about what just happened or start thinking too far ahead of what it’s going to take to come back. But the guys just continue to stay focused on what’s right in front of them and have done a nice job of coming back -- often.”