The Reds of Cincinnati have not yet been swept away in a series this season. They will seek to keep it intact when they face the cardinals host of St. Louis in the final of a three game set on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds lost 6-5 in 11 rounds on Saturday, a competition in which they held an advance of 5-2 after the top of the eighth round. But the cardinals pulled in one in the lower half of the frame and the solo shot of Nolan Arenado equaled it to the ninth before Yohel Pozo delivers a winning single RBI.
“The difficult part is that we had to drive there to the end,” said Emilio Pagan, relief launcher. “But you know, we have fought hard the whole game. We play very well in baseball and therefore, you know, (the manager Terry Francona) has been preached since spring training – this one is over. We will focus tomorrow. Present ready to play.”
Cincinnati lost three in a row and fell to 10-15 against its central rivals of the national league this season, losing seven of the eight series played against them.
“I thought we had done very good things,” said Francona. “We fought. One day, we used almost all of our launchers, it probably did not untangle as if we thought it was going. This is how the game is sometimes.”
After having used eight launchers in a day of enclosures on on Saturday, the Reds hope for the start of quality of the projected starter Andrew Abbott (6-1, 1.84 MPM) in the final.
The left-hander, which has a 3-2 sheet with an MPM of 4.31 in 31 1/3 of sleeves on six career starts against Saint-Louis, comes from his last outing against the twins of Minnesota on Tuesday. He granted five points in eight strokes in five rounds.
He was from top to bottom for the 26 -year -old during his last four departures. He launched a full match on June 10 against the Cleveland Guardians, with only three strokes and a 1-0 victory. However, he had abandoned five points in seven strokes in six rounds with a defeat of 9-1 against the Brewers of Milwaukee on June 4. This was preceded by a solid release on May 30 against the Cubs of Chicago, leader of the NL, holding them with a blow and a seven-round walking in a 6-2 victory.
Miles Mikolas (4-4, 4.35) is expected to get a sign of the cardinals, who will seek to extend their sequence of six-game victories. Mikolas has a 6-8 file with an MPM of 5.53 in his career against Cincinnati (22 appearances, including 20 departures).
Arenado continues to swing a hot bat, going 19 for 56 (.339) with four circuits and 10 points produced in its last 15 games. He was detained without a blow five times this month, and only once, it happened in consecutive matches.
“He feels it and it shows,” said Director of St. Louis, Oliver Marmol. “The emotion he has shown by crossing the plate there is what he is. It pulls everyone – you can say that the crowd has entered and our canoe has entered. This is what it brings and that it is in a very good place for the moment.”
– Field level media