St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds

The learning curve continues for 25-year-old Quinn Mathews. The Cardinals turned to the lefty as their 27th man in Game 1 of Monday’s day-night doubleheader to make his second Major League start. He gave them four innings of one-run ball, throwing 95 pitches in the process. Alec Burleson provided the offensive support and five relievers took care of the rest. Burleson reclaimed the MLB lead in RBIs by driving in two runs early and six St. Louis pitchers combined to hold the Reds to three hits in a 2-1 win in the opener. Luis Gastelum (3-2) struck out two in a perfect fifth inning to pick up the win in relief of Mathews. Riley O’Brien struck out the side in the ninth to secure his 31st save in 36 chances. Following a Dane Myers homer leading off the fourth, St. Louis pitching combined to retire 14 straight before Sal Stewart’s two-out double in the eighth. The Cardinals retired 18 of the final 19 Cincinnati batters. The Cardinals took advantage of an early lack of command from Cincinnati lefty Kent Emanuel, making his first career MLB start and his first appearance of any kind in the Majors since 2024 with Miami. Emanuel hit Joshua Báez with his second pitch and then walked Iván Herrera. But following Jordan Walker’s strikeout, Burleson drove an Emanuel sinker down the right-field line to drive in two runs and leapfrog Stewart and Washington’s C.J. Abrams for the Majors’ RBI lead with 92. “Just a natural hitter,” raved Cardinals manager Oli Marmol of the left-handed slugger. “He wants the lefties. He made it a point that ‘I need to get better at this if I \[want\