The pregame math had leaned on Cincinnati getting a cushion at home and a total built for a tighter, lower-scoring track — a number that fit two offenses that have traded results with this same opponent all week. The Reds bats never showed up to test it.
St. Louis broke the scoreless tie in the 5th and tacked on again in the 7th and 8th, spreading its 3 runs out instead of leaning on one big inning. Leahy's final line backed up the trend from his last outing, working deep enough to hand a clean lead to the bullpen, and Cincinnati's lineup managed only 3 hits against the St. Louis arms across nine innings. An error on the Reds' side didn't help matters either.
The form card tells a similar story from both dugouts — St. Louis came in over .500 across its last stretch, while Cincinnati had been scuffling before its win in the nightcap of that doubleheader snapped a mini-slide. Depth is where the two clubs really separate, and that gap shows up clearest in who's missing entirely.
Hunter Greene's season ended for good recently when a second Tommy John surgery was confirmed, Graham Ashcraft is still building back arm strength in Arizona, and Brandon Williamson is only up to rehab starts — that's three rotation arms Cincinnati simply doesn't have right now. St. Louis has its own absences in Ramon Urias and Max Rajcic, but neither was going to swing a game against a Reds team already running on fumes on the mound.