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SportsLine's model simulated St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds 10,000 times and revealed its MLB picks for Thursday's matchup at Great American Ball Park

"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.

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.

The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday to secure the series split. The Reds were led on offense by home runs from Jose Trevino and Spencer Steer. Noelvi Marte, Santiago Espinal, and Steer all had multi-hit games.

Jose Trevino hit a two-run homer off Matthew Liberatore and Spencer Steer added a solo shot as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday afternoon in a game delayed 1 hour,