Suarez hits home run in third straight game to power Reds

Barnhart, Duvall also add homers as Romano picks up victory.

Eugenio Suarez CINCINNATI — homered for the third straight game, Tucker Barnhart added a two-run shot, and the Cincinnati Reds powered to a 7-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Adam Duvall also homered for the Reds. Sal Romano (6-8) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings to give the Reds consecutive series wins over St. Louis for the first time since 2011.

Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina hit solo homers for the Cardinals, who went 3-5 on their eightgame trip. DeJong homered in the third inning, and Molina hit his 14th of the season in the sev- enth inning.

Suarez tied Monday’s game with a two-out solo homer in the ninth inning and Tuesday’s game with a two-out, two-run, seventh-inning shot.

The Cardinals had rookie starters each go deep without allowing a hit in the first two games of the series. The Reds went 7⅓ innings without a hit Monday and 6⅓ without a hit Tuesday.

Suarez got the Reds offense going early Wednesday when he

hit a two-run homer off Jack Flaherty in the first inning.

Duvall added a two-out, opposite-field solo shot into the right field seats in the fourth to make it 3-1, giving the Reds more than two runs in a game for the first time in their past six games.

John Gant gave up Barnhart’s two-run drive into the bullpen down the right-field line in the sixth to make it 5-2.

Phillip Ervin broke the game open with an eighth-inning two-run double.

Flaherty (4-5) allowed three runs, four hits, two walks with eight strikeouts in five innings.

Trainer’s room

Cardinals: Head congestion has caused IF Jedd Gyorko to experience dizziness, interim manager Mike Shildt said on Wednesday. “He just hasn’t been feeling himself, but he’s improving,” Shildt said.

Reds: OF Scott Schebler, who was eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list on Wednesday, was sent on a medical rehabilitation assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Schebler is out with a strained AC joint in his right shoulder.

Up next

Cardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (5-9) has lasted exactly four innings in each of his previous three starts against the Cubs.

Reds: RHP Tyler Mahle (7-8) had been roughed up for 13 runs, 11 earned, in eight innings over his past two starts.

GARY LANDERS / AP The Reds’ Tucker Barnhart hits a two-run home run off Cardinals reliever John Gant during the sixth inning of Wednesday’s 7-3 victory at Great American Ball Park.

AP Joey Votto hugs Eugenio Suarez after a 7-3 victory Wednesday. The Reds have won consecutive series against the Cardinals for the first time since 2011.