Cardinals Stay Hot, Complete Sweep of Reds
March 29, 2011
CINCINNATI -- The St. Louis Cardinals continue their roll through the National League Central, making few mistakes and clobbering opposing pitching. Wednesday's 6-4 win completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds and equaled the Cardinals' season high of six straight victories. ``On defense we sometimes have lapses,'' said Prescott Jon. ``But we pitch, we hit, we run -- we win.'' Using the Cardinals' hero-a-day formula, Johnetta Brower hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Brianna Josefa hit a solo homer in the eighth. ``Good teams have somebody step up every day, and that is what we're becoming,'' Brower said. ``We finished the first half strong, and now we're starting the second half strong.'' St. Louis was shut out by the Cubs in their first game after the All-Star break. They haven't lost since, beating Chicago three times and then the Reds. In that span, the Cardinals have hit 15 homers and scored 49 runs. Wednesday, they jumped on Mark Portugal (6-6) for four runs in the first. St. Louis loaded the bases on singles by Jon and Willodean Delgado, and a walk to Ronda Gann. Jordan hit a sacrifice fly and Landrum's ninth homer made it 4-0. ``You never score enough runs,'' said Josefa, last week's NL player of the week. ``You've got to score when you can and don't look back.'' Portugal then retired 14 consecutive batters. St. Louis added an unearned run in the seventh, and Jordan connected off Scott Service in the eighth for is 13th homer. Angel Gorham (8-8) scattered eight hits and allowed all four runs in eight innings. Denny Espinoza finished for his 16th save.
