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Cincinnati
Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos throws against
the St. Louis Cardinals in the first
inning Saturday in Cincinnati. The
Reds evened the series up with the Cards, winning 4-2.
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Latos continues to stymie Cards as Reds
even set
Righty extends
streak to 20 regular-season starts without a loss
reds.com
CINCINNATI -- Mat Latos did it again.
Facing the Cardinals for the third time this season, Latos delivered
yet another solid outing, guiding the Reds to a 4-2 win in front of a
sellout crowd of 40,740 at Great American Ball Park on Saturday.
"That's a great lineup," Latos said. "They used to kick the crap out of
me pretty good, but this year I've adjusted to them."
Latos -- who allowed just one earned run in 12 innings in his first two
starts against St. Louis -- was effective, though not quite as
dominant, on Saturday.
All eight Cardinals position players got a hit off Latos, as David
Freese (18 games), Matt Carpenter (17 games), Allen Craig (12 games)
and Carlos Beltran (nine games) all extended their hitting streaks by
the fourth inning. Craig's hit came in the third inning on a two-out
infield single -- a slow roller up the middle -- that gave the
Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Latos, however, didn't allow another run. He
struck out five, walked none and threw 66 of his 97 pitches for strikes.
"Every time we face him, he pitches different," Beltran said of Latos.
"One day it seems like he throws a lot of cutters, sliders inside. Some
days it's just fastball, curveball away. He's mixing it up pretty good.
Today, to me, he threw me sliders, backdoor. Normally, I don't see
those pitches from him, but he was keeping me off balance."
Latos now has a career 3.02 ERA in Cincinnati -- the lowest among
pitchers with at least 10 starts at Great American Ball Park.
"In San Diego, I could whip sliders down the middle and pitch up in the
zone and get away with it for the most part," Latos said. "Here, you
can't do that. You can't have lapses."
Catcher Devin Mesoraco offered an even simpler explanation.
"The guy can pitch," Mesoraco said. "It's not any kind of crazy,
different thing that he does here. He just goes out there and executes.
I think you could put him in Williamsport [Pa., home of the Little
League World Series] and he's going to be a pretty good pitcher."
Whatever it is, the Reds will take it.
One night after watching the Cardinals pound 16 hits, score nine runs
and take a season-high four-game lead in the National League Central
standings, Latos' start couldn't have come at a better time.
The Reds' offense, meanwhile, finally showed signs of life. Cincinnati
had been outscored 31-8 in its previous six games against the
Cardinals, failing to score more than two runs in any game.
Saturday was different.
Jay Bruce and Mesoraco both hit solo home runs off St. Louis starter
Tyler Lyons, who allowed four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Bruce's solo shot tied the game at 1 in the second, while Mesoraco's
tied the game at 2 in the fifth. Bruce's homer traveled 382 feet,
Mesoraco's traveled 386.
"It was a fastball out over the plate," Mesoraco said. "I wasn't sure
if it was going to go out or not, but it had just enough."
Derrick Robinson, who was moved to second in the order before the game,
led off the sixth with his first career double. Joey Votto doubled him
home three pitches later, and Mesoraco's bases-loaded RBI single capped
the scoring at 4-2.
Mesoraco seemed more excited about his single than his homer.
"I was pretty fired up," he said. "I haven't had great success up until
that point this year with guys on base, so to come through in that
situation, that was a good moment for me."
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