THE APEX TIMES
Tejay Antone escapes bases-loaded danger, but Reds fall to Cardinals
Despite another tense bullpen save attempt, Cincinnati’s late lead did not hold at Busch Stadium as St. Louis won 6-5.
ST. LOUIS. The Reds did not have many clean innings in their bullpen again Saturday, and they still could not find enough margin to turn a key escape into a win. Cincinnati fell to the Cardinals 6-5, dropping the first two games of the series, even after reliever Tejay Antone worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth inning with the Reds holding a narrow lead.
Antone inherited trouble after Nick Lodolo opened the bottom of the sixth with a hit, and Bryan Torres reached on an error by Eugenio Suárez. Francona went to Antone, and the Cardinals almost instantly loaded the bases again, sparked by a double steal and followed by lineup maneuvering that kept the pressure at maximum.
The turning point came when Oliver Marmol used pinch-hit options to find a favorable matchup, and Francona chose to walk Lars Nootbaar intentionally with one run in the lead. That decision left the bases jammed with no outs. Then Antone did what high-leverage relief pitchers are paid to do, first getting catcher Jimmy Crooks to ground into a 3-2-3 double play, with Sal Stewart and P.J. Higgins executing the sequence, before Masyn Winn’s grounder ended the inning’s damage.
Manager Terry Francona credited Antone’s pitch execution and calm decision-making. Francona said the reliever “wiggled out of a really tough one” and added that Sam Moll “was pretty good,” but that the outcome ultimately swung on a breaking ball left in the swing path.
Antone’s appearance carried extra meaning beyond the box score. Saturday was his first visit to Busch Stadium since June 6, 2021, and the right-hander has had to navigate a difficult medical history since then, including multiple Tommy John surgeries. Cincinnati has been using him as a bullpen solution after a return that began with brief stints in 2023 and 2024, and he made his first appearance of the 2026 season on May 6 in Chicago against the Cubs.
Still, a bullpen escape did not translate into a protective lead for the Reds. In the eighth, Sam Moll gave up a two-run home run to Lars Nootbaar to flip the game in St. Louis’ favor. Cincinnati later threatened again, putting two runners on with two outs in the ninth, but Rookie of the Year candidate Sal Stewart grounded out to end it, leaving Antone’s earlier Houdini act as the night’s clearest bright spot rather than the ending the Reds were chasing.
The loss fits a larger pattern of late-game strain for Cincinnati. The club is still absorbing the swing effects of a bullpen that has had rough stretches this season, and Saturday’s defeat followed a run where the Reds had lost three in a row, four of five, and seven of nine. Even so, the organization received a reminder that, when the game’s leverage spikes, Antone can be a stabilizing presence.
Why It Matters
- Antone’s escape reinforced that the Reds have at least one reliable bullpen option when innings turn over to the late-game group.
- The Cardinals’ late two-run swing off Sam Moll showed how quickly bullpen moments can reverse, even when another reliever handles the earlier danger.
- With Cincinnati in a recent stretch of frequent losses, performances like Antone’s can become critical for roster planning and bullpen trust moving forward.
- The game highlighted how leverage situations, not just inning volume, are defining results for Cincinnati’s season right now.
Key Facts
- Tejay Antone escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth inning against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
- The Reds still lost 6-5, with St. Louis taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run home run by Lars Nootbaar off Sam Moll.
- In the sixth, Antone helped turn the pressure into an inning-ending 3-2-3 double play, with Stewart and P.J. Higgins making the key plays.
- Francona said Antone “wiggled out of a really tough one,” and described how the deciding inning came down to a pitch location issue.
- Saturday marked Antone’s first appearance at Busch Stadium since June 6, 2021, and the article noted his return path after multiple Tommy John surgeries.
- Cincinnati put runners on again in the ninth with two outs, but Stewart grounded out to end the game.