National League Game Summary - Cincinnati At St. Louis
POSTED: 6:09 pm PDT September 28,
2008
St. Louis, MO -- (Sports Network) - Ryan Ludwick and Felipe Lopez drove in three runs each as the St. Louis Cardinals swept a season-ending three-game set from the Cincinnati Reds with an 11-4 victory at Busch Stadium. Lopez had four hits and scored twice while Ludwick hit a two-run homer and doubled. Troy Glaus hit his 27th home run for St. Louis (86-76), which will carry a six-game winning streak into next season. "We never gave up this season," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said. "(This team) played really hard day in and day out and executes, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but we never gave up. These guys have terrific hearts and a lot of guts. In my memory of this club, it's like a tied for first finish." Cardinals' scheduled starter Kyle Lohse was a late scratch as the club is reportedly close to signing the right-hander to a contract extension. He is scheduled to meet with doctors on Sunday as a possible prelude to the deal being finalized and announced. Right-hander Brad Thompson (6-3) got the start instead and gave up three runs on four hits and one walk in five innings. Reds' starter Adam Pettyjohn (0-1) was slammed for eight runs on seven hits with a pair of walks in his two-plus innings to lose his lone start of the 2008 season. Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer and Joey Votto blasted a solo shot, one of two hits with a pair of RBI for Cincinnati (74-88), which lost five straight to close the season. Cincy plated a run on a sac fly from Votto in the first but it was all Cardinals from there, starting with a two-run shot from Ludwick in the home half, his 37th of the season. St. Louis added three runs in the second on a single from Cesar Izturis that plated two runners with the help of an error and an RBI double by Lopez. A six-run third essentially put the game away early for the Cards, who got a leadoff home run from Glaus before Pettyjohn exited three batters later. Gary Majewski inherited a pair of runners and Brendan Ryan brought one home with a single and Lopez doubled in two more two batters later. Albert Pujols followed with a double of his own to score Lopez and Ludwick capped the inning with an RBI double two batters later for an 11-1 lead after three innings. Encarnacion smacked a two-run shot in the fourth, his 26th on the season and Votto cranked out his 24th, a solo shot in the sixth off Kelvin Jimenez but that's as far as the Reds would get.Game Notes:St. Louis won 10 of the 15 matchups between these NL Central foes this season. The Cardinals took two of three tests from Cincy in the Reds' other visit to Busch Stadium this year...Hairston was 2-for-3 with a run scored...Ludwick's three RBI gave him 113 this season, closing the books on an impressive breakout season for the 30-year-old outfielder. His previous career-high for homers was 22 last season while he more than doubled his previous season-high for RBI.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.







