ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals promoted Genesis Cabrera to the major leagues last week for two reasons – they needed a starting pitcher and they wanted to see what he could do if he was given that opportunity.
In his debut last week against the Phillies, Cabrera failed to make it out of the fourth inning, giving up five runs, three of them earned. He got his second start on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, after which the question was, “Will he get a third?”
Cabrera failed to make it through the fifth inning against the Reds, allowing eight hits and four runs, three of them earned. In perhaps the most telling statistic, however, he did not get a swing-and-miss strike on any of his 95 pitches and did not record a strikeout.
That spot in the rotation, which originally was occupied by Michael Wacha, will come up again on Sunday night in Chicago.
“We’ll talk about it,” said manager Mike Shildt.
The loss snapped the Cardinals’ four-game winning streak.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals did not do much to help Cabrera offensively. They managed just two hits, by their first two batters of the game, through the first six innings. Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the first with his ninth homer, the 15th time in his career he opened the bottom of the first with a home run. Paul DeJong followed with a single. They drew four walks in the first three innings before Luis Castillo retired the last 12 batters before leaving the game after the sixth … Harrison Bader ended the string of 13 consecutive outs with a one-out double in the seventh. He went to third on a pinch-hit single by Jedd Gyorko but was stranded when Carpenter grounded into a double play … The Cardinals struck out 14 times, their most since they struck out 15 times on April 30 at Washington.
On the mound: Castillo dodged trouble in the first three innings in which he allowed two hits, walked two and saw another runner reach on an error. He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, when four hits produced two runs. He then gave up a homer to Yasiel Puig in the fifth and the other run scored after Wacha relieved and allowed an RBI single on his first pitch … Wacha had a better outing, allowing two hits and striking out three in 2 1/3 innings … Tyler Webb retired all four batters he faced before John Brebbia got the final two outs.
Key stat: The four runs off Cabrera in 4 2/3 innings equaled the total number of runs allowed by the other four Cardinals’ starters in their most recent outings, coming in a total of 26 innings that coincided with the team’s four-game winning streak.
Worth noting: The amateur draft concludes on Wednesday with picks in rounds 11 to 40, In the first 10 rounds the Cardinals have picked nine college players, seven of them pitchers … The 1 hour, 20 minute rain delay at the start of the game was the fourth delay in the Cardinals’ last seven games, totaling 7 hours, 16 minutes … DeJong and Carpenter each committed an error on Tuesday night, the first errors by Cardinals infielders in 21 games dating back to May 8 … Jake Woodford had a much better start for Triple A Memphis on Tuesday night in Tacoma, allowing two runs in seven innings while striking out six and walking one … The Cardinals announced that the starting time for the game against the Angels on Sunday June 23 at Busch Stadium has been moved from 1:15 p.m. to 6:07 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.
Looking ahead: Tuesday night’s game began a stretch of 20 games in 20 days for the Cardinals, whose next day off will be on June 24. Dakota Hudson will get the start on Wednesday night against the Reds.
