ST. LOUIS — Eugenio Suarez reached the 100-RBI milestone for the first time in style.
Suarez’s two-run homer off of Bud Norris in the 10th inning lifted the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. The blast gave Suarez RBIs 99 and 100 this season. His previous RBI high was 82 in 2017.
“For me to hit that homer and my 100th RBI, that’s special,” Suarez said. “That’s what I always dreamed of and today I can tell my dreams come true.”
Suarez got locked in after spinning away from a Norris fastball two pitches earlier.
“He threw that 95 mile per hour fastball right at my face and then I said, ‘Now where you want to throw it to me?' " Suarez said. “I just wanted to be ready that at-bat. I know how they try to get me out. I put my bat barrel on it and hit it well and the ball went out.”
After Suarez’s career-high 31st of the season, Brandon Dixon hit a solo homer four pitches later as the Reds hit back-to-back homers for the fifth time this season, the sixth and seventh home runs given up by Norris (3-4).
They came right after Michael Lorenzen (2-1) pitched out a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the ninth without giving up a run to send the game to extra innings. Raisel Iglesias earned his 25th save in 29 chances despite allowing a run for the fourth time in his last five outings.
“Your nervous system hits a different gear,” Lorenzen said. “It was definitely a different gear and it feels good to come out on top and with Suarez hitting that home run. It just felt like we’re leaving feeling really good about ourselves right now, so it’s a positive.”
Lorenzen’s escape act was even more impressive considering it came against the Cardinals 3-4-5 hitters.
“Give credit to them and they got out of it and we weren’t able to execute,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “Our situational hitting wasn’t where we want it tonight, but it has been a strength of our club and we expect it to continue to be a strength of our club. You can’t overreact to one, two, three at-bats.”
The Reds won for just the third time in their last 11 games, including the last two against the Cardinals, snapping their series winning streak at 10. St. Louis (76-61) fell a half game behind the Milwaukee Brewers into the second wild card spot in the National League.
Billy Hamilton sparked a two-run first inning with a leadoff double. Scooter Gennett’s single scored Hamilton and Joey Votto walked and took home on a Luke Weaver wild pitch.
Weaver, making his first start since Aug. 16, needed 40 pitches to get through the first. He also pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second before settling in and being lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fourth.
“I think early it was just trying to find that rhythm, trying to sync everything up, just a little hot out there, just trying to gather myself,” Weaver said. “I threw some pitches they were close. I just kept hitting in the wrong spots that he wasn’t calling. It was just trying to make those adjustments.”
Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani ran into trouble in the fourth, giving up an RBI double to Harrison Bader and an RBI bunt single to Greg Garcia to tie it at 2-2. His 3 2/3 inning performance was his shortest outing since July 15, when he lasted just 3 1/3 innings in a 6-4 loss to the Cardinals also at Busch Stadium.
Hamilton used his speed to stretch a leadoff single to right into a double in the seventh. He moved to third on a Jose Peraza sacrifice and trotted home to break a 2-2 tie on a Votto fly to center.
Bader used his legs to tie it for the Cardinals in the eighth, beating out a slow grounder to short for a bases -loaded infield single to tie it 3-3.
“They get bases loaded nobody out, they got to figure, ‘Hey, we’ve got to win this game right here,’ and you know we’ve been on the other end of that a few times," Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "today that’s one where they legitimately go home and say, 'We’ve got to win that game.' "
TRAINING ROOM
Reds: OF Preston Tucker was traded to the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations.
Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (left oblique strain) threw a bullpen on Sunday and is expected to go out on a rehab assignment this week.
UP NEXT
Reds: RHP Matt Harvey (6-7, 4.97 ERA) gets the start in the first game of three-game series Monday afternoon at Pittsburgh against RHP Trevor Williams (11-9, 3.30 ERA). Harvey is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA against the Pirates this season.
Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-6, 2.87 ERA) kicks off a three-game series at Washington and St. Louisan RHP Max Scherzer (16-6, 2.22 ERA) on Monday afternoon. Flaherty has won four straight decisions and will make his first career start against the Nationals.
