CINCINNATI _ There was no late-game magic for the Cardinals Thursday after they were no-hit for the first half of the game for a second consecutive night.
Cincinnati Reds starter Sonny Gray, who carried a scoreless streak of 13 innings into the game, no-hit the Cardinals for the first 4 2/3 innings until Dexter Fowler singled to right center with two out in the fifth. The night before, the Cardinals didn't have their first hit until the seventh inning against Kansas City and then they had six singles in a row in the seventh to pull out a 6-0 win.
On Thursday, the Cardinals had just that one hit until the ninth when Kolten Wong poked a two-out, run-scoring double into left field to give the Cardinals a chance. But pinch hitter Matt Wieters flied out and the Cardinals fell to the Reds, 2-1, their winning streak snipped at five games.
After his single, Fowler stole the Cardinals' third base of the night but Matt Carpenter struck out for Gray's 10th strikeout of the game.
The only good news, seemingly, for the Cardinals was that they made Gray throw 97 pitches in the first five innings and he wouldn't come out for the sixth. It didn't matter as the Reds' bullpen struck out five more Cardinals, jumping the total to 15 for the night.
For four innings Cardinals starter Michael Wacha was firing blanks, too. But the Reds pushed across two runs in the fifth to break the scoreless tie.
Jose Iglesias singled to right and Tucker Barnhart was clipped by a Wacha pitch in the faceguard protection added to his batting helmet.
Gray sacrificed the runners to second and third and Nick Senzel hit a bouncer over the mound. Second baseman Wong might have had a play at first but threw home too late trying to catch Iglesias, who easily was safe.
First baseman Goldschmidt tossed out Barnhart at the plate as the latter tried to score on Josh VanMeter's grounder. Senzel was off second as the Cardinals ran down Barnhart and the Cardinals might have a shot at Senzel, too, but center fielder Randy Arozarena was late in covering second, with the other infielders occupied in the play.
Eugenio Suarez then dropped a single into center to plate the second run.
