Moronic extra inning rule proves costly to Reds

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yohel Pozo had a two-out RBI single in the 11th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 6-5 comeback victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

The Cardinals overcame a 5-2 deficit, tying it in the ninth on Nolan Arenado’s leadoff homer off Emilio Pagán. Alec Burleson had a two-run homer and an RBI single for St. Louis.

Phil Maton (1-2), the Cardinals’ sixth pitcher, threw one inning for the victory. Rookie Chase Petty (0-3), the eighth Reds pitcher, gave up the deciding hit to Pozo.

Reds star Elly De La Cruz, who overcame getting sick on the field in the fourth inning, hit a changeup 435 feet to center in the seventh for his team-leading 17th homer and a 5-2 lead.

With two outs in the fourth, the game was halted after De La Cruz — who also had a triple — vomited. After the trainer came out, De La Cruz remained in the game. Two ground crew members cleaned up the spot at shortstop.

Matt McClain had three hits for the Reds.

Key moment

In the second inning, De La Cruz tripled when the ball eluded center fielder Victor Scott II. The relay throw bounced by Arenado. Pitcher Sonny Gray was backing up the play and De La Cruz took off for home. A fastball from Gray easily nabbed the sliding De La Cruz.

Key stat

The Cardinals are 6-2 in extra innings. The Reds are 1-6.

Up next

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (4-4, 4.35) was set to face LHP Andrew Abbott (6-1, 1.84) on Sunday in the series finale.

Cardinals 6, Reds 5, 11 innings

Cincinnati						St. Louis
	ab	r	h	bi			ab	r	h	bi
Friedl cf	4	0	1	0		Donovan 2b	4	1	1	0
Lux dh	4	0	0	1		Winn ss	4	1	1	1
Hampson pr-dh	0	0	0	0		Burleson rf	5	1	2	3
De La Cruz ss	5	1	2	2		Contreras 1b	5	0	0	0
Stephenson c	5	0	0	0		Walker pr	0	1	0	0
Steer 1b	5	1	2	0		Arenado 3b	4	1	1	1
Benson lf-rf	2	0	0	1		Gorman dh	4	0	0	0
Espinal 3b	5	0	0	0		Nootbaar lf	4	0	1	0
Fraley rf	2	0	0	0		Pagés c	3	0	0	0
Joe ph-lf	1	1	0	0		Barrero pr	0	0	0	0
McLain 2b	5	2	3	0		Pozo c	1	0	1	1
						Scott cf	4	1	2	0
Totals	38	5	8	4		Totals	38	6	9	6

Cincinnati	001	000	310	00	—	5
St. Louis	200	000	021	01	—	6

E–Donovan (3), Contreras (4). DP–Cincinnati 2, St. Louis 1. LOB–Cincinnati 9, St. Louis 8. 2B–McLain 2 (7). 3B–Steer (1). HR–De La Cruz (17), Burleson (8), Arenado (10). SB–Joe (2). SF–Benson (4).

	IP		H	R	ER	BB	SO

Cincinnati
Suter	2		2	2	2	1	2
Martinez	2		0	0	0	0	0
Gibaut	1		0	0	0	3	0
Richardson	2		0	0	0	0	2
Santillan H,16		2-3	4	2	2	0	0
Pagán BS,17-20	1	1-3	1	1	1	0	4
Barlow	1		1	0	0	1	1
Petty L,0-3		2-3	1	1	0	0	0

St. Louis
Gray	5		5	1	1	2	5
Matz BS,1-4	1	2-3	2	3	3	2	1
Granillo	1	2-3	1	1	1	0	1
King		2-3	0	0	0	0	0
Helsley	1		0	0	0	0	1
Maton W,1-2	1		0	0	0	1	3

HBP–Gray (Friedl), Petty (Arenado). WP–Helsley, Maton.

Umpires–Home, CB Bucknor; First, Scott Barry; Second, Adam Beck; Third, Dan Iassogna.

T–3:18. A–27,283 (44,494).