ST. LOUIS _ By the way Michael Wacha's season finished a year ago _ when he was battling a second stress reaction in his right shoulder _ you likely wouldn't recall that he finished on a winning streak of five games, especially since he wound up only 7-7 with a unsightly 5.09 earned run average.
But add on four victories during this spring's exhibition schedule, as Wacha proved his health and pitching wealth, and the right-hander took a nine-game streak into Saturday's initial 2017 regular-season outing against Cincinnati.
Make it 10. And add in an RBI as the Cardinals defeated the Reds, 10-4 at Busch Stadium.
That RBI note is no mean feat because Wacha, in the midst of an .026 season at the plate in 2016, did not have an RBI. In fact, he had just one hit and 22 strikeouts in 39 at-bats.
But his two-out single in the fourth inning was one of the biggest hits of the game. It extended the Cardinals' lead to 3-1 and Aledmys Diaz quickly followed with his second homer of the game, a three-run drive, off losing pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who turned 40 a couple of months ago.
After that, it was mostly downhill for the Cardinals, although their bullpen allowed two more home runs, making that five from the seventh inning on in five games. Jonathan Broxton and Sam Tuivailala were tagged Saturday.
Diaz, enjoying the first multi-homer game of his career, had four runs batted in for the day and Jedd Gyorko had two as the Cardinals unwrapped an offense that had been scoreless for the last 13 innings before Saturday. The Cardinals had 10 hits and the generous visitors offered up 11 walks and a balk.
