Carpenter slams door on Reds
Chris Carpenter (13-3) was 4-0 in his six starts since the All-Star break for the St. Louis Cardinals with a 1.79 ERA over that period, and he kept up that form against the Cincinnati Reds tonight going seven strong innings and giving up just two runs on five hits. It was Carpenter’s ninth consecutive win against the Reds and the Cardinals won the game 7-3.
The offense came mostly from Skip Schumaker in the form of a fourth inning grand slam against rookie, Mike Leake (7-4). In total, the Cards sent 12 batters to the plate that inning, accounting for all of their seven runs. It was their biggest single scoring inning of the season.
This was the first game in an important three-game series between the two top teams in the National League Central, and the win pulls the Cards within a game of the Reds with plenty of season left to play. With San Francisco beating the Chicago Cubs in extra innings, the win keeps the Cards within a game of the Wild Card leading Giants.
Carpenter had no explanation for why he has been so successful against the Reds. “I do the same things I do against anybody else. I watch video every single time and see what has changed and what hasn’t changed and put something together.”
The grand slam, a shot to center field that landed in the Reds bullpen, was just the 19th home run of his career for Schumaker in 542 games as a major leaguer. It was also his first grand slam. “That’s the first time it’s happened in my career,” Schumaker said. “Everyone gets lucky once in a while. I probably hit it in the right park.”
Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park is an attractive park for home run hitters. But the crowd of 36,000 was hoping it would be their own big-hitting Reds that took control. It’s been more than 10 years since The Reds have been leading their division this late in the season, and the first time since they moved to the Great American Ball Park in 2003. Pennant fever is in the air and the fans are not ready to give it up to the perennial playoff contender Cardinals.
But Tony Larussa’s Cardinals may have something different to say about that during this series. As well as Carpenter, St. Louis plans to send top pitchers Jaime Garcia (9-5, 2.53 ERA) and Adam Wainwright (16-6, 2.07 ERA) to the mound over the next couple of days. The Reds bats might end up staying silent until after the Cards leave town.
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