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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

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.

An inning to forget from Reds reliever Alexis Diaz quashed reasonable hopes of a comeback. The St. Louis Cardinals tied the four-game series.

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.

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

The Cincinnati Reds have optioned struggling closer Alexis Diaz to Triple-A hoping he can regain his All-Star form