Cardinals Continue The Hot Streak With Sweep Of Reds
- Jim Santora
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
I learned the term “yesteryear” through watching the opening credits of the old Lone Ranger TV show. Didn’t love the show (I was sure that “kemosabi” meant “go f*** yourself” in Apache), but I loved the term.
So, just for fun, I went back to see how the Cardinals performed vs. the Reds in days gone by.
2025 Reds took 6 of 8 including an embarrassing sweep of the redbirds
2024 Reds took 6 of 8
2024 Reds took 6 of 8
Safe to say that the Reds have consistently pummeled the Cardinals over the last few years. Badly. Why? Mike often had better rosters and he rolled well against me. Mike puts a lot of time and effort into his roster creation and game prep and it often shows up like that. Last year, in particular, I don’t think the Cardinals led for as much as an inning in the entire series. In the last few years, my teams were pretty good. We just hit a Big Red buzzsaw. Shit happens.
That was yesteryear. Let’s talk about last night.
Last night, it was a payback of sorts.
Last night the Cardinals won four straight over the Reds. It was not a debacle, but four games which could have gone either way and four games in which the Reds led at some point in the contest.
A few things happened:
The Cardinals pecked (see what I did there?) away methodically with their doubles-based offense (13 in the series, 85 on the season) and came back in each game.
The Reds offense got nothing out of Rafael Devers (1-14) marte (1-11) and little from Suarez (3-16).
The Cardinals bullpen gave up one run in four games and it’s not like I was throwing prime Mariano Rivera out there.
So that’s about it. Any mammal who gets luck like this will generally win most of the time.
It was my turn. The series was well managed, and the rolls went my way. It’s been happening a lot lately. The Cardinals have won 8 straight, 11 of 12 and 16 of 20. I’ve never had a run like this. The roster is solid but doesn’t inspire awe, the manager is sloppy sometimes and hardly a savant, and the dice are pristine thank you for asking. It’s just my turn. Equilibrium will return and I will go cold because this is a math-based game with probability countered through the roll of two marked cubes spun wildly. My team requires multiple hits to score and when that doesn’t happen we are pretty lifeless. Last night we got the hits when we needed them.
So here’s how it went
GAME 1
CARDINALS 5
Reds 4
WP: Rogers
LP:Konig
S: Estevez
The goings on: In the top of the first the Reds scored four runs – including a three-run jack by Suarez. Needless to say, I expected Mike’s mastery over the Cardinals to continue. I had Griffin Canning pitching. Things did not look good. But Canning recovered and didn’t allow a run the rest of the shaky way – the Cardinals escaped threats in the 3rd, 4th and 6th innings. Tyler Rogers went two perfect innings in relief to aid the comeback. In the sixth, William Contreras singled home two runs and in the seventh, Willson Contreras (hitting under.140) doubled home two runs to give the Cards the lead. The Cardinals got eight free passes in the game four of them scored and that was the difference in the game.
GAME 2
CARDINALS 6
Reds 4
WP: Nelson
LP: Cabrera
S: Estevez
The goings on: Realmuto hit a lead-off dong to give the Reds an early lead. It held until the 4th when the Cardinals scored five runs on four hits, three walks and a hit batsman. The reds cut the lead to 5-4 in the 6th behind a three-run triple from DeLaCruz. But in the bottom of the sixth, TJ Friedl hit his seventh home run of the year (on a 1-4 shot – he’s done that three times this year) to give St. Loo some breathing room. The Cardinals give up just one hit over the final three innings to nail down the win.
GAME 3
CARDINALS 4
REDS 3
WP: Pomeranz
LP: Suarez
The goings on: The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the third on an RBI single from Bart and an RBI double from Lauriano. Nimmo homered in the 7th to make it 3-1. The Redbirds inched back on a Mason Winn double in the 7th. In the ninth against Suarez, Tyler Freeman and Jake Cronenworth singled. After Winn was fanned, Friedl laced an RBI single to tie the game. Burleson followed with an RBI single to end the proceedings. Again, the Reds did not threaten in the 8th and 9th.
GAME 4
CARDINALS 7
REDS 2
WP: Singer
LP: Kelly
The goings on: The Reds took a 2-0 lead on homers from Yaz and Stowers as Brady singer farms gophers in his spare time. But singer didn’t give up much else and the Cards were able to stay in the game. In the 5th, the Cardinals put together another big inning through doubles and walks. Freddie and Tyler Freeman each had RBI doubles. It was 4-2 Redbirds. After that, the Reds offense went cold, there were a few double plays and things got silly. The Cardinals scored some late runs to make it look like a bigger win than it was.
So that was that. The Cardinals got the rolls. The Reds did not.
As the Cardinals reach the mid-point, they are quite hot. I do not expect it to last.
