CINCINNATI — The Cardinals continued to add on to their lead – first steadily, then strongly, and finally emotionally – and Andre Pallante pitched as if they did not at all.

Stung by a leadoff home run in the second inning, Pallante did not allow a baserunner after that inning and led the Cardinals to a 8-1 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader Saturday against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. Outfielder Bryan Torres punctuated his major-league debut with a two-run homer in the ninth to set the final score.

At 28, Torres is the oldest position player to make his debut for the Cardinals since 2019, and he reached base three times. On his first swing in the majors he got his first single, and on his last swing of the game he hit his first home run into the right-field seats.

He received a curtain call from the Cardinals fans at the away ballpark.

Pallante (5-4) took a one-run lead into the bottom of the third inning and plowed through the remaining innings of his quality start. The right-hander retired the final 13 batters he faced.

The Cardinals’ offense showed its range as it took the lead in the third inning and steadily added on to it through the next five innings.

A pair of walks sparked the go-ahead rally in the third. A foursome of singles added a run in the fourth. And then the power took over. A day after his 24th birthday, Jordan Walker drilled his 14th homer of the season for a two-run shot in the seventh inning. The pitch left Reds’ reliever Connor Phillips’ hand at 99 mph. It left Walkers’ bat at 108 mph and traveled 389 feet and through the attempted catch of a fan in the right-center seats.

Ivan Herrera split the Reds’ outfielders an inning later for a triple that scored Victor Scott II.

Walker finished with three RBIs.

Scott had three hits in a game for the second time this season.

JJ Wetherholt had one of the two walks in the turnaround third and added an RBI in the fourth to his run scored.

Although their 50th game of the season was their first against division rival Cincinnati, the Cardinals faced starter Chris Paddack (0-6) for the second time this season, and the right-hander is already on his second team. They defeated him in in April when he allowed five runs on eight hits as a member of the Marlins. That loss was the fourth of Paddack’s season, and his outing Saturday was his second start for the Reds. Paddack allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings.

The Cardinals never scored more than two runs in any inning between the first and eighth, and they were steadily producing baserunners. Once they took the lead, they were never threatened by the Reds in large part because of Pallante’s work and in part because the offense just kept pressing ahead, producing runs.

Pallante bulldozes to a finish

Nathaniel Lowe’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the second to give the Reds’ their short-lived lead was one of two hits allowed in that inning by Pallante.

He would not allow any more in his start.

He would not allow a baserunner after that inning.

Pallante retired the final 13 batters he faced in order to finish his six-inning start. A double-play groundout to start the run meant he got 14 outs from the final 13 Reds he faced. By the end of the sixth, he’d allowed the one run on the homer and retired 18 batters on 93 pitches. That pitch total meant going to the bullpen for the seventh.

All three of the Reds who reached against Pallante did in the second inning. After Lowe’s homer on a hanging knuckle curveball, Pallante walked Spencer Steer and gave up a single to Blake Dunn. With two runners on and one out, Pallante challenged No. 8 hitter Tyler Stephenson and got a groundball to Wetherholt to start the inning-ending double play and Pallante’s 4 2/3 streak without allowing a baserunner.

Torres’ debut: More than advertised

In his major-league debut, Torres, known for his studious approach at the plate, did not swing at any of the first nine pitches he saw.

When he did swing, he singled to join a Cardinals rally.

Torres walked in his first big-league appearance, and in the fourth inning he took his first big-league at-bat as the Cardinals worked to build upon a one-run lead. On his first swing in the majors, Torres lined a single to right field that followed Masyn Winn’s leadoff single in the fourth inning. The Cardinals loaded the bases on Victor Scott II’s single, and that led to Wetherholt’s line-drive, RBI single that went in and out of first baseman Lowe’s glove.

Torres would finish the inning stranded at third.

Through his first three big-league plate appearances, he had done exactly what got him to the majors. He took his walks. He lined his singles. He moved safely from base to base. In the seventh inning, as the Cardinals widened their lead, Torres had a teammate on base when he took his fourth swing of the game. He crushed a ball to deep right field that appeared bound for extra bases. Reds right fielder Dunn gave chase and with a leaping, reaching grab at the warning track stole the hit from Torres.

In the top of the ninth, Torres took a similar swing and sent the ball 377 feet to almost the same spot in the ballpark.

There was no glove to reach it this time.

Only a fan with a first home run ball within their grasp before it slipped away.

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