by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – The Reds offensive struggles in St Louis on Friday night brought back a lot of unpleasant memories. But it happens to even the best and most expensive lineups, as the New York Yankees found out this month. Still, with the way the Reds had been efficiently hitting the ball in their past four series, the hope was that they’d keep that momentum going in their crucial three games against the Cardinals.
But St. Louis starter Andre Pallante put a quick stop to any positivity Reds fans may have had. Over six innings he dominated Cincinnati hitters, giving up just a pair of hits and striking out four. He’s had the Reds’ number for some time now, and his latest outing was no exception.
Gavin Lux had a game he’d likely prefer to forget. His error allowed two runs to cross the plate and he was 0/4 at the plate, stranding two men on base. It’s important to remember that Lux has barely played a handful of games at third base though, but his throw in the bottom of the seventh was a big part of a bad inning for Cincinnati.
The only run came on a Jose Trevino double in the top of the eighth. But that was all they could muster in a night where the bats were frustratingly impotent. They managed just four hits on the night and stranded five men on base.
When all is said and done, the Reds simply can’t allow this offensive hiccup to become a long term trend. And based on how they bounced back from adversity in the entire month of June, there’s no reason to believe it will. Tonight they just ran into a good pitcher who had their number.
Additionally, the bullpen picked an inopportune time to self destruct. It was a relatively close game until the bottom of the seventh when Scott Barlow, Taylor Rodgers and Tony Santillan let the Cardinals break the floodgates wide open and put the game out of reach, allowing five crippling runs.
Brady Singer deserves a lot of credit for his tenacity tonight, as he matched a lot of the fire that Pallante brought. Singer struck out seven over six strong innings as well. This is his second great outing in a row with 12 innings pitched and 11 strikeouts, while allowing just two earned runs.
Six quality innings from @Bsinger51 pic.twitter.com/ZMt7Oe2rKn
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 21, 2025
This series opener is one that we should learn from, but quickly move on from. Against the Guardians and Tigers, Cincinnati had some ugly games, but stayed focused to, on balance, have a great stretch run.
That’s exactly what we need to see in the next two games of this road trip in St. Louis.
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
