CINCINNATI _ A road trip that offered such promise and included some high points _ a win in New York, a victory against Jose Fernandez, a day or two with a grip on the second wild card _ ended with a wheeze.
The Cardinals, shut out for the second time in a week, managed one hit in the game before there were two outs in the seventh. They fell, 7-0, to the Reds on Thursday at Great American Ball Park, and as a result, the Cardinals finished this road trip at an idle, though representative, 5-5.
They had a runner in scoring position in the first inning.
That didn't happen again until the eighth.
Reds lefty Brandon Finnegan lulled the lineup into zeroes throughout his six shutout innings. He struck out four, did not walk a batter, and only once saw a Cardinal get into scoring position against him, and it took an error on a grounder to make that happen. He improved to 7-8.
"I didn't have my best command," Finnegan told reporters. "They hit some balls hard, but we had some guys catch it. I had a lot of movement on the ball. (It) was a confidence boost, definitely."
Cardinals starter Mike Leake continued his stretch of struggles and his difficulty against his former team. The right-hander allowed seven runs on eight hits and while he started the sixth inning, he was not able to finish it.
"It all starts with our starting pitching, and we've been very clear about that from the beginning," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We know this starting staff can go on a long run, too, like the rest of the year and the postseason long run. We just need to get on a good roll."
