Votto’s four hits lifts Reds to win
CINCINNATI — Joey Votto had one of those frequent days when he hits everything hard — the last thing the St. Louis Cardinals needed at this point.
Votto had a two-run homer among his four hits, Adam Duvall had three hits off Mike Leake — his counterpart in one of Cincinnati’s rebuilding trades — and the Reds beat the Cardinals 5-2 on Thursday to complete a four-game sweep.
“Joey Votto is something else,” Reds starter Scott Feldman said. “I get a big kick out of watching his approach at the plate. You have to see him every day to appreciate how good he is. When he’s hot, there’s nobody better.”
The Reds hadn’t swept the Cardinals in four games since 2003 in Cincinnati, during the first season at Great American Ball Park. St. Louis has lost seven in a row overall for the first time since 2013.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been through runs like this,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “This is baseball. It’s heavy right now, there’s no doubt about it. In the long run, we’re going to snap out of this. It’s just hard finding what that key is.”
Feldman (5-4) limited the Cardinals’ slumping lineup to four singles in seven shutout innings. Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Austin Brice. Raisel Iglesias got his 12th save.
The Reds traded Leake (5-5) to the Giants for Duvall in 2015, and the right-hander signed with the Cardinals after that season. Leake has yet to beat his former team, going 0-4 in seven starts with a 4.79 ERA. The Cardinals have lost all seven games.
Leake figures that the Reds’ familiarity with him — Votto is one of their holdovers from 2015 — helps them.
“I’m sure he’s a voice in their meetings, might speak up to kind of help other guys,” Leake said. “But I feel I’ve done a pretty decent job with Joey up to this point. Today he went 3 for 3, but he hasn’t really killed me.”