CINCINNATI • The Cardinals have lapsed into a repetitive, galling stretch of games that has become baseball’s answer to rope-a-dope.
They come out swinging, land a few blows, and even take a lead.
Their opponent only has to wait for the inevitable mistake, or three.
For the fourth time in as many days, the Cardinals took a lead in the first half of Monday’s game, mishandled chance after chance to add to it, and stumbled, fundamentally, into a loss. The Reds’ four-run seventh inning reversed the score and Scooter Gennett’s two-run double was the knockout jab in a 4-2 victory at Great American Ball Park.