Reds vs Cardinals Recap: Cards explode to 10-3 win

The Reds came into Busch Stadium hungry to bounce back. They'd lost three straight games and needed a win badly. The Cardinals were hot, riding a three-game winning streak. Right away, Cincinnati struck. Sal Stewart smashed a double to center field off Kyle Leahy's 94-mile-per-hour fastball. Steer and Blake Dunn scored instantly. Eugenio Suárez followed with a single to left, and Stewart raced home. Just like that, the Reds led 3-0 before the Cardinals even batted. You could feel the energy shift when St. Louis came up. Brady Singer threw a wild pitch that scored Alec Burleson. The Cardinals tied it up and stayed alive. The early fireworks made it clear this game had plenty of baseball left to play.

Alec Burleson stepped up in the third inning and unleashed a monster. His bat connected with Singer's pitch and sent it rocketing to right center. The ball sailed 387 feet and cleared the wall. Tie game, 3-3. But the Cardinals weren't done. In the fifth, Jordan Walker doubled to center and Burleson scored again. Then came the sixth inning—absolute chaos. Lars Nootbaar doubled, scoring Victor Scott II. Ivan Herrera singled, driving in Nootbaar. Masyn Winn got hit by a pitch, scoring Herrera. Jose Fermín reached on an infield single, scoring Burleson. Jimmy Crooks walked, pushing across another run. Victor Scott II walked, and Winn scored. St. Louis poured on seven runs in that frame alone. The damage was done. The Reds couldn't catch up.

By the time the final outs came, this game was completely decided. The Cardinals had built a 10-3 lead and Hunter Dobbins was pitching lights-out for St. Louis. He threw five innings and gave up nothing—zero runs, zero earned runs. Six strikeouts showed his complete control on the mound. Cincinnati's pitching staff fell apart after Brady Singer couldn't escape the first inning. Brock Burke, Zach Maxwell, and Luis Mey all came in but couldn't stop the bleeding. The Reds' bats that started so strong in the first inning never recovered. The Cardinals' defense stayed sharp. Every ground ball, every fly ball, every play got made. When the final pitch crossed the plate, St. Louis had crushed Cincinnati 10-3. The Cardinals improved to 34-28, staying hot. The Reds fell to 31-32, losing their fourth straight.