Steer homers twice and drives in 5 runs as Reds beat Cardinals 6-1 behind Abbott

CINCINNATI (AP) — Spencer Steer homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs, and Elly De La Cruz hit his team-leading 21st homer as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Monday night.

Andrew Abbott (10-9) allowed one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to snap his three-game losing streak. The left-hander was tagged for 12 earned runs over his previous 13 1/3 innings.

“I was spinning the ball and getting first-pitch strikes,” Abbott said. “It was all mental between this start and last start. I went out there with a plan and tried to execute the best way you can.”

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (11-7) struck out nine in five innings, but is winless in three career starts against his former club. He gave up six runs and five hits, including three homers.

“He was electric first time through,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “Punched out, what, seven? He was executing pitches. He was doing what he wanted. But a couple good swings by Steer and De La Cruz.”

Abbott retired 11 straight batters during one stretch and finished with six strikeouts. He escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and third.

“That’s the difference,” Marmol said. “We’re going to have to do a better job with runners in scoring position. That’s the key for ourselves moving forward.”

Steer and De La Cruz homered on successive pitches from Gray to put Cincinnati ahead 3-1 in the third. It was the fifth time this season the Reds hit back-to-back homers.

Steer, who batted leadoff for the third time this year and fifth time in his career, struck again in the fifth with a three-run shot to make it 6-1.

“It is fun to move around,” Steer said. “Batting leadoff is great. It’s a great opportunity to get that first at-bat for the team and set the tone. That’s the way I look at it, at least. It’s a tone setter for the rest of the game.”

It was Steer’s first career multi-homer game. He has 18 home runs this season.

“He’s just a good ballplayer,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Leading off kind of just put him out there. He came up with a big game.”

Gray has given up 17 home runs this season, two shy of his career high set in 2017 with Toronto and 2021 with Cincinnati.

“Got to find a way to keep the ball in the ballpark,” Gray said. “I think if you look at it as a whole, my strikeouts are up, my walks are down. Just my homers are way up. I don’t know what that is yet.”

Marmol was ejected by plate umpire Stu Scheurwater in the fifth after arguing a called ball. It was Marmol’s fourth ejection this season and the 13th of his career.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: DH/INF Matt Carpenter (lower back strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 9, and OF Jordan Walker was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. ... RHP Lance Lynn (right knee inflammation) threw a bullpen.

Reds: RHP Graham Ashcraft (right elbow strain) will begin a six-week throwing program in about 10 days. ... INF Matt McLain (left shoulder surgery), who had a setback with a stress reaction in his rib cage, is expected to begin hitting in a couple of days.

Cardinals: RHP Erick Fedde (8-5, 3.28 ERA) pitches Tuesday night, his second start for St. Louis since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a trade.

Reds: RHP Hunter Greene (8-4, 2.90) had a 24-inning scoreless streak snapped in his last start.

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