McCoy: Reds blast Cardinals to complete dominant three-game sweep

After a loss in Milwaukee on Saturday, the Reds were in last place, 11 1/2 games behind the Brewers.

But by winning four straight, the Reds vaulted past Pittsburgh and Chicago and draw even with the Cardinals in a four-day span.

And at 60-61 they scrambled to within one win of .500.

The Reds ripped 10 home runs during the three-game sweep, their first sweep of the Cardinals in GABP in seven years. And they’ve hit 27 homers in their last 12 games.

Cincinnati had more home runs (10) than the Cardinals had runs (4) during the series.

The home runs Wednesday came from Jonathan India, Tyler Stephenson and TJ Friedl, two each by India and Friedl.

St. Louis starter Kyle Gibson retired the first seven Reds before wallking Will Benson on a full count in the third. Noelvi Marte, 0 for his last 11, drove a solid single to right.

That brought up India, 0 for his 23 and 1 for his last 30. He bolted out of that slump by driving a 2-and-2 81 mph sweeper 383 feet into the left field seats, giving the Reds a 3-0 lead.

After Elly De La Cruz flied to left, Stephenson rocketed his 16th home run 390 feet into the right field seats and it was 4-0.

India led the fifth with his second homer, this one a 416-foot blast over the center field wall. Two outs later, TJ Friedl celebrated his birthday with a 400-foot connection into the right field seats.

Asked what he discovered in the batter’s box, India said, “I couldn’t tell ya. I do the same thing every day. I just stick to my process. I always say this game is about failure and there are still ways to help out.

“Be a good teammate and play good defense,” he added. “I just stayed in the game. I never give up, I’ve always had that fighter attitude, just keep going no matter how bad it is or how good it is.”

And all those team home runs?

“Maybe summer in Cincy,” he said with a laugh. “The ball flies this time of year in Cincy. Give credit to that but also everybody is trying to lock in right now.”

The Reds utilized a bullpen day and started Emilo Pagan. He gave up singles in both the first and second innings, enabling the Reds to turn a pair of double plays.

Sam Moll pitched a 1-2-3 third with a pair of strikeouts and turned it over to Carson Spiers.

Spiers gave up a two-out single in the fourth and a leadoff double in the fifth, but escaped unscathed.

He was not as fortunate in the sixth with the Cardinals beginning the inning with four straight hits — a solid leadoff double by Masyn Winn and and two bloopers and an infield roller that produced two runs.

And the Cardinals had runners on second and first with no outs. Spiers snuffed it by striking out Brendan Donovan and Paul Goldschmidt and Justin Wilson came in to retire Lars Nootbaar on one pitch, a pop-up.

Buck Farmer pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Fernandez Cruz pitched a no-run, one hit, one-walk ninth to conclude it.

Friedl, wearing uniform No. 29, added another candle on his 29th birthday cake with his second home run of the game leading off the seventh. He is the first Reds player to hit two home runs on his birthday since Barry Larkin did it in 1994.

“This has to rank at the top,” said Friedl. “I don’t know what I did on my other birthdays, but I don’t remember two home runs.”

He also doesn’t remember that due to injuries, Wednesday was the first MLB game he played on his birthday.

“We’ve all been more aggressive on offense and we’re all playing good at the right time, which is what this teams does,” he said.

Lost in the home-run barrage was the pitching that held the Cardinals to four runs in three games.

“Our pitching dominated, the way they have all year,” said Friedl. “They’ve kept us in games from the very start of the season. Our starting pitching, relief pitching ... everything. They’ve done so well we kind of expect it.”

De La Cruz, 0 for his first 4, followed Marte’s second hit, a single, with a run-scoring double to make it 9-2 in the eighth.

Marte contributed two hits to come out of his slumber and India added a single to his two home runs and drove in four runs.

While the Reds are tied for second in the NL Central, they remain 4 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the third wild card spot and are still behind the Braves, Mets and Giants with 41 games left.

“This was a good sweep and we just need to keep winning, that’s the bottom line,” said India. “We ARE a playoff team. We’ve had tough stretches this year, but that’s part of baseball. We have to keep finding ways to win now and it is the perfect time to get hot. These last couple of months we need to find a way.”

Five homers a game, 26 home runs in 12 games and lock-down pitching is a very good way.