ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals reliever Genesis Cabrera slammed the ball to the ground in frustration when he was removed from the game Friday night, prompting a stern response from manager Oliver Marmol moments before St. Louis closed out a 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Cabrera was pulled after giving up consecutive hits to start the ninth inning. He fired the ball down as Marmol approached the mound, leading the rookie skipper to grab Cabrera and get right in his face.
“Your ego can’t get in the way of being a professional,” Marmol said. “I’ve known him a long time. He’ll be just fine. We have a good, veteran group that will address it. The kid’s a competitor, he wants to be in there. You can’t fault him for that.”
Veteran slugger Albert Pujols spoke to Cabrera as the pitcher sat on the bench. Standing in front of him, Pujols tapped Cabrera twice on the top of his cap before walking away.
All-Star reliever Ryan Helsley earned his eighth save when he got Brandon Drury to fly out to deep center field with the bases loaded.
Nolan Gorman hit a tiebreaking homer for the Cardinals, and Brendan Donovan drove in three runs. St. Louis stopped its two-game skid and improved to 4-4 on a 10-game homestand, its longest of the season.
Cincinnati had won six of seven and was coming off back-to-back series wins for the first time this season. The last-place Reds swept Tampa Bay at home and took two of three on the road from the major league-leading New York Yankees.
Andre Pallante (3-4) allowed three runs and six hits over five innings for his first win since June 10. He struck out five and walked three.
Gorman broke a 3-all tie with a drive off fellow rookie Hunter Greene (3-2) leading off the fourth inning. He was 2 of 24 over his previous eight-plus games before unloading…
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