Cardinals: Alex Reyes forgot how to throw strikes at the worst possible time

It was a tough night at the office for St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes, who gave up three straight walks with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

It seemed like Alex Reyes could not buy a strike on Thursday night. The St. Louis Cardinals reliever threw 21 pitches in the top of the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves. Only four of them were strikes.

To make matters worse, Reyes walked four batters, and in three of those instances, the bases were loaded. In all, Reyes failed to record an out and was charged with two earned runs. Talk about an inopportune time to forget how to find the strike zone.

Cardinals developing habit of letting runners walk home

Unfortunately, walking batters with the bases loaded is a bit of a trend for the Cardinals this season. They’ve done it 25 times, which is both a club record and a bad number by any baseball standard. With over 100 games still remaining, who knows how many more walks with bases loaded St. Louis might rack up.

By the time the Cardinals finally got three outs in the eighth, they’d given up six runs, blowing their 4-2 lead. Reyes’ poor outing was only part of the culprit, but it stings a little more when you let your opponent walk in runs.

Luckily for the Cards, it was an uncharacteristic outing for Reyes. The 26-year-old had an ERA of 1.85 prior to Thursday’s game and was named an All-Star for the first time this season.