Fowler sparks Cardinals to win over Reds in 10 innings
CINCINNATI -- Dexter Fowler tied the score with a solo home run in the eighth inning and drove home the go-ahead run with a double in the 10th, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.
Juan Nicasio (4-5) earned the victory after pitching 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run on two hits.
Scooter Gennett homered off Nicasio to make it a one-run game leading off bottom of the 10th. Tyler Lyons retired both batters he faced to earn his third save.
The teams combined used eight pitchers apiece.
The Cardinals (78-72) snapped a three-game losing streak but still trail the first-place Chicago Cubs by six games in the National League Central standings. They were four games behind Colorado for the second NL wild card pending the Rockies' late result at San Francisco.
Zack Cozart hit a two-homer in the third inning for Cincinnati (66-85), which had its seven-game winning streak at Great American Ball Park snapped.
Sacrifice flies by Adam Duvall and Scott Schebler put Cincinnati ahead 6-5 in the sixth inning.
Fowler led off the eighth with his career-high tying 17th home run, which caromed off the glove of leaping Schebler in center to tie the score at 6.
Kolten Wong was hit by a pitch from Tim Adleman (5-11) to begin the 10th. Two batters later, Fowler put the Cardinals ahead with a double, and Fowler later scored on Paul DeJong's two-out single.
Jesse Winker led off the game with a double off Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty and scored on Joey Votto's single to put the Reds ahead 1-0.
Cincinnati added a second run on Patrick Kivlehan's sacrifice fly in the second.
By then, the Cardinals already had someone warming in their bullpen. Flaherty lasted only two innings, allowing two earned runs and three hits.
John Grant replaced Flaherty on the mound, but a single by Winker and Cozart's 23rd home run of the season made the score 4-0 to begin the third inning.
Meanwhile, Reds starter Jackson Stephens retired the first 10 batters he faced before Tommy Pham's single in the fourth. The Cardinals had three straight singles including Jose Martinez's RBI single to drive in their first run.
Things got worse for Stephens in a hurry.
Molina crushed a 1-1 pitch from Stephens into the second deck of the bleachers in left field for a three-run homer, tying the score 4-4.
The next batter, DeJong, put the Cardinals ahead 5-4 with his 23rd homer to center. It was the ninth set of back-to-back homers allowed this season by Reds pitchers.
NOTES: Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright was reinstated from the disabled list and will be used as a reliever. He had been out since mid-August due to a right elbow injury. ... Cardinals 3B Jedd Gyorko, making his first start since being reinstated from the DL on Wednesday, went 0-for-4. ... Reds CF Billy Hamilton began hitting off a tee and playing catch. He could return initially as a pinch runner. Hamilton is on the DL due to a fractured left thumb. ... Reds INF Patrick Kivlehan made his second start of the season at third base with Eugenio Suarez away from the team for a few days awaiting the birth of his daughter.