MID-WEEK ROUND-UP: Cincinnati Reds Split Series with 9-1 Victory Over Cardinals

CINCINNATI -- Backed by two home runs, one each by catcher Jose Trevino and first baseman Spencer Steer, the Reds scored five runs in their final three innings at the plate to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday afternoon.

The win gives the Reds a split against their division rivals and puts them at 17-15 heading into the first weekend of May.

Here are some takeaways from today's Reds win and series split against the Cardinals

Takeaways from Reds win Thursday and series split with the Cardinals

1. Barry Larkin said it best on the Reds TV broadcast Thursday. Graham Ashcraft was nasty on Thursday, pitching three perfect innings out of the bullpen. The right-hander was absolutely dealing on Thursday afternoon, completely silencing the Cardinals' bats not even 24 hours after they exploded for 15 combined runs in the doubleheader on Wednesday.

Ashcraft struck out four Cardinals hitters on Thursday, throwing an emphatic 26 of his 31 pitches for strikes.

Having now appeared in 12 games on the season, Ashcraft's ERA is down to 0.57. He also has 17 strikeouts against just seven walks in 15 2/3 innings pitched.

After a subar 2024 season in the starting rotation, Ashcraft is excelling in his new role coming out of the Reds bullpen. The Reds bullpen has been stellar this season, and Ashcraft has a prominent role in it.

2. Speaking of the Reds bullpen, their stellarness was on full display against the Cardinals. Across the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader and Thursday's series finale, Reds relievers retired 35 straight Cardinals. Thirty-five straight. That's the longest streak by the Reds since 1940, the year they won their second World Series in franchise history.

It started Wednesday night when Brent Suter and Lyon Richardson combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings. That may have been overlooked in a game the Reds lost 9-1, with Chase Petty struggling in his MLB debut, but limiting the Cardinals to nine runs in a series where there was a rainout that caused the Reds to have to make some roster moves is extremely crucial. Not to mention, there was a 1-hour, 37-minute rain delay in Thursday's series finale.

It's the sign of a good team to be able to still have good developments even in games or series where things don't go well. The Reds countered the Cardinals' offensive explosion Wednesday, which was really across the ninth inning of game one and the first three innings of game two in the doubleheader, with a shutdown effort from their bullpen.

3. I'm not worried about Matt McLain. Is he struggling? Obviously. However, he's still hitting the ball hard and playing good defense in the field. Plus on Thursday, McLain turned a nifty double play in the top of the fourth and delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

Players go through slumps. Former New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira was known for struggling in April before his bat heated up in May. On a team where a lot of other hitters are producing, fans shouldn't worry too much about McLain.

4. A lot of attention is on the production of Noelvi Marte and other players like Gavin Lux and Elly De La Cruz. TJ Friedl should not be left out of that discussion.

Friedl walked and had a leadoff single on Thursday, and he also scored two runs and stole a base. He's now hitting .274 on the seaso with six stolen bases, but more importantly, he's looking like the leadoff hitter that Reds fans envisioned he would be going back to 2023.

The 29-year-old center fielder has walked and stolen a base in back-to-back games. His slide in the bottom of the seventh inning on Marte's RBI single Thursday was poetry in motion, considering Jordan Walker's throw from right field got there a full second before Friedl got his left hand on the plate.

5. Andrew Abbott's performance Thursday afternoon may get overlooked because of the Reds bullpen and the preceeding rain delay, but he bounced back nicely from his last start in Colorado. Abbott battled through four innings, working around four walks and several foul balls by the Cardinals lineup to only allow one earned run on three hits in four innings.

6. What helped Abbott was the Reds defense making great plays behind him. Elly De La Cruz snared a liner off the bat of Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras to lead off the top of the second, a play where De La Cruz started left and then spun back around to his right to make the catch. McLain's sure-handed double play ended the top of the fourth.

7. Earning a split after the debacle that was Wednesday's doubleheader is good for the Reds, and it speaks to their resilience.

8. Luis Mey pitched a perfect top of the ninth for his MLB debut. John Sadak mentioned on the TV broadcast that fellow Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley said in Spring Training that when Mey is on, he's a right-handed Aroldis Chapman. Let that sink in.

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