The Cincinnati Reds crushed three home runs as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-5 on Friday night to begin the second half of the season. That was the good news. But they also lost star catcher Tyler Stephenson to a broken collarbone in the 1st inning of the game.

After going in order in the 1st inning and seeing the Cardinals take a lead in the top of the 2nd, Cincinnati’s offense went to work. Michael Papierski had a 1-out walk, moved to 3rd on a Kyle Farmer double, and both would score on a Tyler Naquin single that tied the game up. Donovan Solano then followed up with a 2-run homer. The next inning saw Joey Votto crush a solo home run to extend the Reds lead to 5-2.

The Cincinnati bats went quiet for a few innings as the Cardinals clawed their way back into the game, cutting the lead to 5-4. But in the bottom of the 6th inning the Reds offense got things going once again. After Joey Votto flew out to start the inning, Michael Papierski and Kyle Farmer walked and then they both scored when Tyler Naquin tripled. Donovan Solano followed up with a sacrifice fly and it was 8-4 in a hurry.

With an 8-4 lead entering the bottom of the 7th inning Jonathan India felt the Reds didn’t have a big enough cushion and crushed a leadoff homer off of upper deck for his 5th homer of the season to make it a 9-4 lead.

Graham Ashcraft retired the first two batters that he faced. But Paul Goldschmidt came up to the plate and he fouled a ball back that caught Tyler Stephenson in the shoulder. He was checked out by the training staff and remained in the game. Goldschmidt then hit the next pitch about 10 feet in front of the plate and Stephenson fielded it and went to throw to first, but winced in pain as he pulled the ball back, dropped to a knee, and then exited the game without ever making the throw – giving an infield single to the Cardinals 1st baseman. We would later find out he broke his collarbone. Nolan Arenado followed up with a double, but Goldschmidt was held at third base. Ashcraft was able to induce a ground ball to end the inning with no runs coming across.

The next inning didn’t go the same way for Ashcraft. An infield single and a walk with two outs put two men on, bringing Tommy Edman to the plate. He worked a full count against Ashcraft before the right-handed starter thought he had struck him out to end the inning. The umpire had other ideas, calling the final pitch a ball to load the bases.

That call changed the inning. Instead of the Reds coming to the plate, it instead loaded the bases and saw Tyler O’Neill come through with a 2-out, 2-run single to put the Cardinals on top. Ashcraft kept the Cardinals off of the board in the next two innings as the Cincinnati offense put up five runs to take a 5-2 lead. But St. Louis got their offense going in the 5th. O’Neill walked to lead off the inning before Paul Goldschmidt hit a 2-run homer into the upper deck in left field to cut the lead to 5-4. Ashcraft wouldn’t finish the inning, giving up a 2-out single to Dylan Carlson before being removed for Reiver Sanmartin. The lefty would strike out Brendan Donovan to end the inning.

Buck Farmer came out and fired a shutout 6th inning. Alexis Diaz took over for the 7th inning and got the Cardinals to go 1-2-3 on just nine pitches to hold onto what was now an 8-4 lead. After the Cardinals scored a run in the 8th against Ian Gibaut, Hunter Strickland fired a perfect 9th inning to lock down the win.

Tyler Stephenson broke his collarbone in the 1st inning of the game. How long he will be out remains unknown.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Cincinnati Reds

Saturday July 23rd, 6:40pm ET

Steven Matz (3-3, 6.03 ERA) vs Mike Minor (1-6, 6.21 ERA)

Doug Gray is the owner of RedsMinorLeagues.com, Redleg Nation, and as you guessed it, passionate about the great sport of baseball. He's been writing about baseball since 2006 (contributions formerly at The Athletic and currently at Baseball America). You can keep tabs with him on twitter @dougdirt24.

I think this is the textbook definition of a “tough win” for our guys.

Diaz threw 9 pitches in a perfect inning and was replaced for the next inning. Just can’t understand the thought process, if there is one.

With Bell, there is no logic!

such a shame about Tyler. I think this has to be the tipping point to move Stephenson to a different position. His bat is too valuable to risk to foul tip injuries behind the plate every night. He could be a very good left fielder or first baseman. I don’t buy the argument that a left fielder or 1st baseman needs to hit 30 home runs- 20 will do just fine with an OPS of .850.

It takes 6-8 weeks for a clavicle to heal – especially for an athlete. I can’t wait for David Bell to tell us Tyler will be back in 4 weeks – don’t believe it.

I broke my collar bone 63 years ago and that bone has never felt normal to this day, I can still feel a little twinge in the area where the. I’ve was broken. I hat this for Tyler. He is the Reds’ best player.

I broke my collar bone 63 years ago and that bone has never felt normal to this day, I can still feel a little twinge in the area where the bone was broken. I hate this for Tyler. He is the Reds’ best player.

Totally agree REDSVOL. Instead of trading for a shortstop, we should trade for an MLB ready catcher. Tyler is too good of a bat and team leader to have him get banged up constantly while behind the plate. First base/DH would make sense.

I don’t think he will play again this year unless they want to let him DH some the last few weeks. I think he needs to work all off season at first base or left field depending on team needs. The Reds need to find a catcher in one of their trade deals, he should be major league ready and be given a chance to play with the Reds in August and September.

This. While we don’t have details about severity of his break (that I’m aware of), if it requires surgery there’s no sense in even trying to bring him back. Even if it doesn’t, a healing process that affects the geometry of his shoulder may linger for a long time. Given that the season is a lost cause anyway, there’s no reason to expect him back this year at all.

I wouldn’t let this upset any pending big deals.

Don’t water down your return for Castillo or Mahle with a journeyman ‘major league ready’ catcher.

That’s what trading a Drury or Naquin or Pham would be for, even if the returns are meager.

A .220 vs a .140 hitting catcher isn’t going to make that much difference.

The guy is injury prone at the catcher position needs to be moved elsewhere.

Again…Reds have a penchant for injuries wish Stephensen had extra padding on to somehow have extra protection. May have not helped this situation, but again it might have helped. May sound dumb, but especially with all the injuries this year, Reds need to do extra stuff and extra caution to help avoid injuries!

Tough year all around. But that makes these wins, particularly against divisions, even more enjoyable. If Pham learns to hit in the 3rd hole, this team will pick up a few more wins.

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