Masyn Winn, Brendan Donovan homer to put Cardinals over Reds, 6-1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan each homered to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 on Thursday.

Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (13-9) was perfect through five innings before Jake Fraley singled to leadoff the sixth. He finished the day allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine batters in six innings.

“From the very beginning of that game, he was locked in,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “All his stuff was working. The cutter was good. His breaking stuff was good. That sinker, he used it in off the plate, but he also was able to free some guys, bought a strike on the outer half to the righty. When he's able to do all of that, it’s a tough at bat.”

Andrew Kittredge pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before JoJo Romero got the final four outs for his first save of the season.

Thomas Saggese singled to center to drive in Lars Nootbaar for his first career RBI in the eighth inning after getting his first major league hit in the sixth.

"It felt amazing," Saggesse said about his offensive firsts. “I was starting to feel a little pressure to get one, but it was really nice to get it out of the way.”

Donovan hit a two-run homer to right field pinch hitting for Jordan Walker in the seventh inning to expand the St. Louis lead to 4-1. It was his first career pinch hit home run and career-best 12th homer of the season.

Winn scored on Nootbaar’s sacrifice fly off Carson Spiers (5-6) in the bottom of the sixth to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

Jonathan India hit an RBI single to left field to tie the game 1-1 in the sixth inning.

“Sonny was really good early” Reds manager David Bell said. “We created the opportunity early there in the inning, and we weren't able to come up with the big hit. Sonny did a good job of limiting the damage there and pitching out of it.”

Winn hit a hanging slider from Reds starter Jakob Junis into the left-field stands for his 13th homer of the season in the bottom of the third inning to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0.

“I was 100% sure he was coming sinker,” Winn said. “He threw a slider, so I kind of got lucky there. He threw it right down the middle so I didn't really have to think about where it was going to end up. I don't think I did that all year, swinging at a first pitch slider, so I was more happy about that than hitting a home run.”

Junis allowed one run on three hits and struck out three in five innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: LF Will Benson left the game in the top of the sixth inning with a left middle finger contusion after getting hit attempting to bunt. Amed Rosario finished Benson’s at bat and struck out.

UP NEXT

Reds: Bell had not announced a starter to face Twins RHP Bailey Ober (12-6, 3.77 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series in Minneapolis on Friday night.

Cardinals: RHP Erick Fedde (8-9, 3.39 ERA) will face Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.09 ERA) to start a three-game series in Toronto on Friday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

David Solomon, The Associated Press