Major League Baseball
Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 1
When: 6:40 PM ET, Monday, August 12, 2024
Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Temperature: 79°
Umpires: Home - Stu Scheurwater, 1B - Mark Carlson, 2B - Dan Merzel, 3B - Jordan Baker
Attendance: 21682

Spencer Steer hit two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs and Elly De La Cruz homered and doubled to lead the host Cincinnati Reds to a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.

It was the first multi-homer game of Steer's career. Jake Fraley singled, walked and stole two bases and also scored twice for Cincinnati, which won its second straight game.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott (10-9) worked out of bases-loaded jams in the second and third innings to snap a three-start losing streak. Abbott, who retired 11 batters in a row during one stretch between the third and the seventh innings, allowed one run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Jakob Junis finished up with 2 1/3 hitless innings while striking out three in a non-save situation.

Paul Goldschmidt doubled and singled for St. Louis, which lost its second game in a row. Sonny Gray (11-7), who struck out five of the first six batters he faced, would up permitting six runs, tying a season-high, on five hits over five innings. He walked two and fanned nine.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Nolan Arenado. He knocked in Willson Contreras, who had singled and advanced to second on a walk to Tommy Pham.

Cincinnati took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third when Steer and De La Cruz homered on back-to-back pitches. Steer socked a two-run shot to left, while De La Cruz belted a 399-footer into the bleachers in left-center for his 21st homer of the season.

The Reds extended the lead to 6-1 in the fifth on Steer's 18th home run, driving in Fraley, who had opened the inning with a single, and Will Benson, who had walked.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Sonny Gray Player Andrew Abbott
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 6.2
9 Strikeouts 6
5 Hits 5
10.80 ERA 1.35
Hitting
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Paul Goldschmidt Player Spencer Steer
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 5
0 HR 2
3 TB 8
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 5 0 6 .156 10 9 1 2 0 0
Cincinnati 6 3 16 .200 8 12 6 3 3 1