CINCINNATI • The Cardinals’ starting pitching, consistently excellent through August, had thrown a few shoes in the early days of September, but none by lefthander Jaime Garcia. He entered Thursday night’s game with the Cincinnati Reds with a 1.89 earned-run average and winner of five decisions in a row.
But while Cincinnati lefthanded rookie John Lamb, acquired from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto trade, was able to pitch around all six of his walks in five innings, Garcia was not able to shed himself of the uncharacteristic four that he allowed. Garcia was knocked out after 4 1/3 innings as the last-place Reds stormed to a 6-0 lead en route to an 11-0 mashing at Great American Ball Park as the bullpen wasn’t exactly brilliant either.