Votto loses track of outs in decisive seventh

ST. LOUIS -- Even the best player on a team makes mistakes. In Monday night's 8-6 loss to the Cardinals, Reds first baseman Joey Votto lost track of how many outs there were.

During the seventh inning, while the Reds held a 5-4 lead, the bases were loaded when Jon Jay bounced a slow hopper toward first base against reliever Manny Parra. Playing back, Votto ran and touched the bag, put his head down and headed toward the third-base dugout as if the inning was over.

One problem -- there were only two outs. Did Votto forget how many outs there were?

"You can go with that if you want," Votto replied.

"It kind of looked like it," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

It was a poor miscue under the circumstances but not costly in itself. The ball was hit slow enough that Votto had no play at the plate on David Freese, who scored, or a chance for a double play.

J.J. Hoover would walk the next batter, Matt Holliday, before giving up a grand slam to Allen Craig that would help give St. Louis the win.