CINCINNATI _ The type of game that baseball calls "perfect" has happened 21 times since 1900 from an assortment of pitchers that include here-today, gone-tomorrow extras, solid stars and Hall of Famers.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals saw a rare feat, one done so few times it doesn't have a catchy nickname. It's not a cycle. It's not a hat trick. It's not a no-no or a CG or a six-pack.
It's just four home runs.
And now it's been done 17 times.
Scooter Gennett became the first player ever to hit four home runs against the Cardinals in a single game as Cincinnati routed the Cardinals, 13-1, at Great American Ball Park. Gennett tied a Reds' record with 10 RBIs and he set a Reds record with four home runs. Gennett is the first player in the majors with four homers in a game since Josh Hamilton did it in 2012 against Baltimore, and no one in the National League has hit four homers in a single game since 2002, when Shawn Green did.
Gennett's grand slam will stand out as the blow that cost the Cardinals most because it followed a play where the Cardinals willingly gave away an out in order to get back a run.
Not that it ultimately mattered.
In the series, Gennett has driven in 12 runs. The Cardinals have scored three.
The list of players who have hit three home runs in a game against the Cardinals includes some of the greatest hitters of this era or several eras before. Johnny Bench, the revered catcher from the Big Red Machine, had three homers against the Cardinals. Willie Mays hit three homers in the same game against the Cardinals. Ralph Kiner, Larry Walker, and of course that Milwaukee masher Casey McGehee was the last two do it way back in 2011.
Add to that list Gennett.
The Reds sometimes infielder/sometimes outfielder drilled a grand slam and the followed that with two run homer and a solo home run. The Reds, for good measure, added a bases-clearing triple off Adam Wainwright.
Wainwright allowed nine runs on seven hits through 32/3 innings. He walked two, one intentionally. Decisions he did not have a role in played a part in tagging him with runs. The triple was set up with an intentional walk to Joey Votto that loaded the bases for Eugenio Suarez. Suarez tripled. Wainwright walked off the mound, replaced by long reliever John Gant.
