Ashcraft struck out four Cardinals hitters on Thursday, throwing an emphatic 26 of his 31 pitches for strikes. Having now appeared in 12 games on the season, Ashcraft's ERA is down to 0.57. He also has 17 strikeouts against just seven walks in 15 2/3 innings pitched.

A day after playing a doubleheader (which the Reds were swept in) due to a Tuesday rainout, the Reds lost Thursday starter Andrew Abbott after just four innings to a rain delay but still prevailed on the back of a strong hitting performance and more effective pitching out of the bullpen.

A 97-minute delay abbreviated Matthew Liberatore's start and pushed the Cardinals into bullpen choices to preserve arms, not chase, in a 9-1 loss to Cincinnati.

"We decided to put our heads together and let (Díaz) try to figure out − get right in Triple-A," Francona said.

The Cincinnati Reds demoted struggling closer Alexis Diaz to the Triple-A Louisville Bats, they announced Thursday.

Diaz proceeded to give up back-to-back-to-back home runs that would make the game out of reach for Cincinnati with a final score of 6-0. An extremely tough outing on Wednesday seemed to be enough for the Reds to make a move and give a different bullpen pitcher a chance.