The St. Louis Cardinals (14-18) were handed a 9-1 loss by the Cincinnati Reds (17-15) on Thursday afternoon, closing out a four-game set at Great American Ball Park. St. Louis couldn’t keep up in the finale, hindered by offensive struggles, shaky pitching and a lengthy weather delay.
Starting Pitchers
Matthew Liberatore (STL): 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 K, 1 BB
Andrew Abbott (CIN): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 4 BB
Scoring Summary
2nd Inning
Jose Trevino put the Reds on the board with a two-run homer to left, scoring Gavin Lux who had reached on a walk.
3rd Inning
The Cardinals responded with their lone run. Brendan Donovan singled to left, advanced on a Nolan Arenado single and scored when Elly De La Cruz mishandled the ball in shallow center.
Every day we're hustlin' pic.twitter.com/d8Kdkr7ZP5
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 1, 2025
4th Inning
A 97-minute rain delay ended Liberatore’s outing at just 42 pitches. Reliever Matt Svanson entered but struggled. With the bases loaded—following a Marte walk, Espinal single, and Steer walk—Lux grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring one. Trevino followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-1.
6th Inning
Spencer Steer crushed a solo homer on an 0-2 pitch, making it 5-1.
7th Inning
TJ Friedl walked and De La Cruz was hit by a pitch before John King entered in relief. Marte delivered an RBI single, and Espinal followed with a two-run single to left, blowing the game open at 8-1.
8th Inning
Friedl reached on an error by Willson Contreras and later scored on Matt McLain’s RBI single, capping the scoring at 9-1.
Game Notes
The Cardinals have now lost the finale in all five of their road series this season.
St. Louis managed just three hits and had only two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
The loss drops the Cardinals to 4-13 away from Busch.
Betting Recap
Reds ML (-122) cashed and the total score went OVER 9 (+102). Just one run kept Eric Sontag’s first five under from cashing.
On Deck
The Cardinals return to Busch Stadium to host the New York Mets for a three-game series beginning Friday at 7:15 p.m. CT. Sonny Gray is scheduled to face Mets right-hander Clay Holmes.