Geno comes up clutch to change Reds' fortunes with one swing

ST. LOUIS – For the first six innings of Friday’s series opener at Busch Stadium, it appeared as though the Reds’ frustrations in St. Louis this season would reach new heights. Having been swept here on June 5-7, Cincinnati knew all too well the struggles of being handled on the road by a division rival, and it was at risk of frittering away an outstanding performance by starter Rhett Lowder.

And in stepped Geno.

Eugenio Suárez crushed a 1-0 slider from Cardinals reliever George Soriano to the concourse behind the visitors’ bullpen in the seventh inning, launching a two-run shot that flipped a one-run deficit to a one-run lead on the way to a 4-2 Reds victory.

“That one, I knew I got it really well,” said Suárez of the clout that traveled a Statcast-projected 435 feet. “This ballpark, the fans always [are] nice, it’s one of my favorite ballparks to come to play against them, and I feel really well every time that I hit a homer here.”

The homer was the highlight, but the pitching was the story. Lowder retired the first nine batters he faced and did not allow a hit until surrendering a two-out, two-run double to Blaze Jordan in the fifth. That double would be the only hit he allowed on the night, in addition to two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

“Really good pitching,” manager Terry Francona assessed. “Really good. It’s a shame because Lowder pitched his rear end off, and he kind of left a breaking ball -- it was down but it wasn’t away enough. It was the only hit he gave up, but he pitched really well.”

Caleb Ferguson, Julian Garcia, Brock Burke, Tejay Antone and Emilio Pagán combined to toss four scoreless innings to hold down the fort in support of Lowder. Garcia, a 31-year-old rookie, notched his first Major League win after striking out Iván Herrera -- the only hitter he faced -- and Pagán recorded his 10th save.

Friday’s start was Lowder’s second in St. Louis this season, and the second in which he allowed just one hit. In June, however, his command betrayed him, and he walked five batters en route to throwing 70 pitches and completing just three innings. He needed just 42 to reach the same point in Friday’s contest, relying heavily on his sinker and slider to keep Cardinals hitters off balance and reaching.

“You’ve just got to stay on your process,” said Lowder. “You don’t always get the results you want, but you’ve just to got to stick with it. Did a pretty good job of that, just staying on my attack.”

Still, despite Lowder’s efforts, the Reds found themselves in need of a hero. It should come as no surprise that their champion arrived in the form of Suárez, whose homer was his 32nd go-ahead shot hit in the sixth inning or later since he made his MLB Debut in 2014, leading all hitters in that timespan. Friday’s shot lifted him out of a tie previously held with Nolan Arenado and Carlos Santana.

“I think when you hit that many, probably, you get some before that, too,” Francona sagely noted.

While a good deal of the other 307 homers of Suárez’s esteemed career may have come in less stressful circumstances, it takes a level of skill and steely nerve to come up in the clutch as often as he has over as long a period, elevating himself into rarified air alongside some of the game’s most feared power hitters.

“He’s a very smart baseball player,” Pagán said. “He can kind of feel what the pitchers and what the other teams are trying to do to him, and then when he’s on time and in rhythm, he’s got the pop to kind of go anywhere and in any direction at any field.”

Pagán, a veteran reliever who lamented having allowed his share of homers at Busch Stadium, said that he saw Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbaar running directly at him and judged quickly that the flight of the ball would out-distance the fielder. For sake of both propriety and sympathy, he opted against craning his neck to see how far into the stands the ball had traveled.

From his vantage point, it would’ve been hard to spot. It was far too far gone to see from that low on the field.

“I like to have a big moment like that,” grinned Suárez. “Just putting myself in a good position to be able to do something to help my team win the game.”