Steer homers twice and drives in 5 runs as Reds beat Cardinals 6-1 behind Abbott

CINCINNATI (AP) — Spencer Steer homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs, and Elly De La Cruz hit his team-leading 21st homer as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Monday night.

Andrew Abbott (10-9) allowed one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to snap his three-game losing streak. The left-hander was tagged for 12 earned runs over his previous 13 1/3 innings.

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (11-7) struck out nine in five innings, but is winless in three career starts against his former club. He gave up six runs and five hits, including three homers.

Abbott escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and third. He finished with six strikeouts and retired 11 straight batters during one stretch.

Steer and De La Cruz homered on successive pitches from Gray to put Cincinnati ahead 3-1 in the third. It was the fifth time this season the Reds hit back-to-back homers.

Steer, who batted leadoff for the third time this year and fifth time in his career, struck again in the fifth with a three-run shot to make it 6-1.

It was Steer's first career multi-homer game. He has 18 home runs this season.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was ejected by plate umpire Stu Scheurwater in the fifth after arguing a called ball. It was Marmol's fourth ejection this season and the 13th of his career.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: DH/INF Matt Carpenter (lower back strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 9, and OF Jordan Walker was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. ... RHP Lance Lynn (right knee inflammation) threw a bullpen.

Reds: RHP Graham Ashcraft (right elbow strain) will begin a six-week throwing program in about 10 days. ... INF Matt McLain (left shoulder surgery), who had a setback with a stress reaction in his rib cage, is expected to begin hitting in a couple of days.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Erick Fedde (8-5, 3.28 ERA) pitches Tuesday night, his second start for St. Louis since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a trade.

Reds: RHP Hunter Greene (8-4, 2.90) had a 24-inning scoreless streak snapped in his last start.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer fields a ground ball and throws to first base for an out against St. Louis Cardinals' Willson Contreras during the fifth inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz, right, throws first base to turn a double play as St. Louis Cardinals' Jordan Walker, left, slides into second base during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz, left, and Will Benson, right, laugh after they tried to catch the same fly ball during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

St. Louis Cardinals' Sonny Gray delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

From left to right, Cincinnati Reds' Ty France, Spencer Steer, Noelvi Marte and Elly De La Cruz celebrate at the conclusion of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

Cincinnati Reds' Andrew Abbott delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer follows through on a three-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The last time Khadija Ahidid saw her son, he came to breakfast in 2021 looking “homeless” with big hair so she offered to give him $20 so he could go get a shave or a haircut that day. Hours later, he shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in the college town of Boulder.

She saw Ahmad Alissa for the first time since then during his murder trial on Monday, saying repeatedly that her son, who was diagnosed after the shooting with schizophrenia, was sick. When one of Alissa’s lawyers, Kathryn Herold, was introducing her to the jury, Herold asked how she knew Alissa. Ahidid responded “How can I know him? He is sick,” she said through an Arabic interpreter in her first public comments about her son and the shooting.

Alissa, who emigrated from Syria with his family as a child, began acting strangely in 2019, believing he was being followed by the FBI, talking to himself and isolating from the rest of the family, Ahidid said. His condition declined after he got Covid several months before the shooting, she said, adding he also became “fat” and stopped showering as much.

There was no record of Alissa being treated for mental illness before the shooting. After the shooting, his family later reported that he had been acting in strange ways, like breaking a car key fob and putting tape over a laptop camera because he thought the devices were being used to track him. Some relatives thought he could be possessed by an evil spirit, or djinn, according to the defense.

No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter. Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. The defense says he should be found not guilty because he was legally insane and not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors and forensic psychologists who evaluated him for the court say that, while mentally ill, Alissa knew what he was doing when he launched the attack. They point to the planning and research he did to prepare for it and his fear that he could end up in jail afterward to show that Alissa knew what he was doing was wrong.

Alissa mostly looked down as his mother testified and photographs of him as a happy toddler and a teenager at the beach were shown on screen. There was no obvious exchange between mother and son in court but Alissa dabbed his eyes with a tissue after she left.

The psychiatrist in charge of Alissa's treatment at the state mental hospital testified earlier in the day that Alissa refused to accept visitors during his over two year stay there.

When questioned by District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Ahidid said her son did not tell her what he was planning to do the day of the shooting.

She said she thought a large package containing a rifle that Alissa came home with shortly before the shooting may have been a piano.

“I swear to God we didn’t know what was inside that package,” she said.

Dougherty pointed out that she had told investigators soon after the shooting that she thought it could be a violin.

After being reminded of a previous statement to police, Ahidid acknowledged that she had heard a banging sound in the house and one of her other sons said that Alissa had a gun that had jammed. Alissa said he would return it, she testified.

She indicated that no one in the extended family that lived together in the home followed up to make sure, saying “everyone has their own job.”

“No one is free for anyone,” she said.

FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)