ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jonathan India had two hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games, Spencer Steer homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 on Thursday night.
India had his sixth straight multi-hit game. He had reached safely in 11 consecutive at-bats before finally being retired Wednesday.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jonathan India had two hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games, Spencer Steer homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 on Thursday night.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas throws to a Cincinnati Reds batter during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter duirng the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Noelvi Marte hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Stuart Fairchild hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fifth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer hits a two-run home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Sam Moll throws in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44), left, celebrates with teammate Stuart Fairchild (17), right, after beating the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
St. Louis Cardinals' Dylan Carlson (3) is out at second base as Cincinnati Reds second baseman Levi Jordan, rear, turns a double play in the sixth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
St. Louis Cardinals' Masyn Winn, right, is out at second base as Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India, throws to first during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. Alec Burleson was safe at first. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Jonathan India hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
“We came out swinging,” India said. “Big win for us, but we need to keep going. You know we’ve been doing this the last four series, we win big the first game and then it doesn’t turn out great the next.”
Reds starter Andrew Abbott (7-6) was the winner, allowing two runs on two hits and six walks in five innings. Cincinnati won for the second time in six games.
“Probably one of the worst games I’ve pitched in my life,” Abbott said. “Just all over the place with timing, mechanic-wise. But yeah, team picked me up and we got a win. That’s all that matters.”
Miles Mikolas (6-7) lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing at least one run in each inning he pitched in. He gave up a career-high 10 runs, nine of them earned, on 12 hits and a walk.
“Just left a lot of pitches in the heart of the plate and they took some really good swings off of him and made him pay,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “They had really good at-bats, so throw this one out and keep moving on.”
Noelvi Marte, in his first game back for the Reds after serving an 80-game suspension for banned substances, had three hits, scored three runs and drove in another.
“I was just focusing myself on just the emotional aspect and just being ready to attack the zone,” Marte said through an interpreter.
Elly De La Cruz had three hits and stole his major league-leading 38th base. Steer, Will Benson and Stuart Fairchild also had multi-hit games as the Reds scored double-digit runs for the seventh time this season.
De La Cruz’s triple scored India to give the Reds a 1-0 lead in the first inning and India’s RBI double added to the lead in the second. It is the fifth straight game that India has doubled in, the longest by a Red since India’s four-game run from Sept. 24-27, 2021.
“I love hitting first and it just gives me more confidence to think I’m the guy that has to get on and I like that pressure,” India said.
Steer, Nick Martini and Marte each doubled and scored in the third to make it 5-0.
“Not hitting spots, kind of stunk out there,” Mikolas said. “Bullpen a little short-staffed, today was not a good day for me to stink. Work my tail off in between starts, make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Steer’s homer in the fourth made it 7-2 Reds and Benson and Fairchild each had an RBI double to extend the lead to 10-2 in the fifth.
Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer in the third for St. Louis, his first since June 5. Brendan Donovan and Dylan Carlson added RBI doubles in the eighth, as the Cardinals lost for the second time in their last seven games.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson was a late scratch from the lineup and was replaced by Luke Maile. Stephenson left the game to be with his pregnant wife.
“It’s a team and that’s the best way to say it,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It’s challenging. We want everyone here and you know, healthy, but no one is talking about anything but, you know, finding a way to get it done. So, I think there’s strength in that.”
TRANSACTIONS
Aside from reinstating Marte, the Reds optioned IF Livan Soto to Triple-A Louisville and moved RHP Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) to the 60-day injured list.
TRAINERS ROOM
Reds: OF Jake Fraley (right calf contusion) and 3B Jeimer Candelario (hamstring tendinitis) each missed their second straight game, but neither is expected to require an IL stint.
Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar (oblique strain) will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Springfield on Friday.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will send RHP Andre Pallante (3-3, 5.23 ERA) to the mound in the second of a four-game series against the Reds and RHP Frankie Montas (3-5, 4.48 ERA) on Friday night.
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St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Jose Fermin catches a popup hit by Cincinnati Reds' Noelvi Marte during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas throws to a Cincinnati Reds batter during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter duirng the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Noelvi Marte hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Stuart Fairchild hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fifth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer hits a two-run home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Sam Moll throws in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44), left, celebrates with teammate Stuart Fairchild (17), right, after beating the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
St. Louis Cardinals' Dylan Carlson (3) is out at second base as Cincinnati Reds second baseman Levi Jordan, rear, turns a double play in the sixth inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
St. Louis Cardinals' Masyn Winn, right, is out at second base as Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India, throws to first during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. Alec Burleson was safe at first. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Cincinnati Reds' Jonathan India hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Joe Puetz)
Beginning Monday, a California law will require credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard to provide banks with special retail codes that can be assigned to gun stores in order to track their sales.
But new laws will do the exact opposite in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming by banning the use of specific gun shop codes.
The conflicting laws highlight what has quietly emerged as one of the nation's newest gun policy debates, dividing state capitols along familiar partisan lines.
Some Democratic lawmakers and gun-control activists hope the new retail tracking code will help financial institutions flag suspicious gun-related purchases for law enforcement agencies, potentially averting mass shootings and other crimes. Lawmakers in Colorado and New York have followed California's lead.
“The merchant category code is the first step in the banking system saying, `Enough! We’re putting our foot down,'” said Hudson Munoz, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Guns Down America. "`You cannot use our system to facilitate gun crimes.’”
But many Republican lawmakers and gun-rights advocates fear the retail code could lead to unwarranted suspicion of gun buyers who have done nothing wrong. Over the past 16 months, 17 states with GOP-led legislatures have passed measures prohibiting a firearms store code or limiting its use.
“We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group that backs laws blocking use of the tracking code.
The new laws add to the wide national divide on gun policy. This past week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis, citing a rising number of firearm-related deaths, including more than 48,000 in 2022. The move was quickly criticized by the National Rifle Association.
States have dug opposing trench lines on other gun policies. On July 4, for example, Republican-led Louisiana will become the 29th state to allow residents to carry concealed guns without a permit.
By contrast, Democratic-led New Mexico this year tightened laws for people who don't have concealed-carry permits, requiring a seven-day waiting period for gun purchases, which is more than double the three-day period for a federal background check.
States also have responded differently to recent mass shootings. In Maine, where an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others, the Democratic-led Legislature passed a variety of new gun restrictions. Following school shootings in Iowa and Tennessee, the Republican-led legislatures there took steps that could allow more trained teachers to bring guns into classrooms.
The surge of legislation targeting firearm store category codes addresses a behind-the-scenes aspect of electronic financial transactions. The International Organization for Standardization, based in Geneva, sets thousands of voluntary standards for various fields, including category codes for all kinds of businesses, from bakeries to boat dealers to bookstores.
Those category lists are distributed by credit card networks to banks, which assign particular codes to businesses whose accounts they handle. Some credit card issuers use the category codes for customer reward points.
The codes can be used by financial institutions to help identify fraud, money laundering or unusual purchasing patterns that are reported as suspicious activities to the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Banks and other depository institutions filed more than 1.8 million confidential reports in 2022 flagging more than 5.1 million suspicious activities. About 4% of annual reports lead to follow-up by law enforcement and an even smaller percentage to prosecution, according to the Bank Policy Institute, a trade group representing large banks.
Stores that sell guns have previously been grouped with other retailers in merchant category codes. Some have been classified as sporting goods stores, others as miscellaneous and specialty retail shops.
At the urging of New York-based Amalgamated Bank, which worked with gun-control groups, the International Organization for Standardization adopted a new four-digit category code for gun and ammunition shops in 2022. Major credit card networks initially said they would implement it but backed off under pressure from conservative politicians and the gun industry.
Munoz, who helped lead the effort to establish the firearms store code, noted credit cards were used to buy weapons and ammunition for some of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings.
The intent of a gun merchant code is to spot suspicious patterns, like a person with little history of gun purchases who suddenly spends large amounts at multiple gun stores in a short period. Once alerted by banks, authorities could investigate, potentially thwarting a mass shooting, Munoz said.
California's new law requires credit card networks to make the firearms code available to banks and other financial institutions by Monday. Those entities then have several months to determine which of their business clients should be categorized as gun stores and assign them new codes by May 1.
Visa, the nation's largest payment network, recently updated its merchant data manual to add the firearms code to comply with California's law.
Democratic-led legislatures in Colorado and New York this year also passed firearms code mandates aligned to kick in with California's next May.
“If there was someone suspiciously purchasing a large number of firearms, right now it would be very difficult to tell," said California state Assemblymember Phil Ting, a Democrat who sponsored the new law. “You couldn’t tell if they were soccer balls or golf balls or basketballs."
Even with a firearms store code, it won't be possible to know whether a particular sale is for a rifle, storage safe or some other product such as hunting apparel.
The state laws prohibiting gun store codes have varying effective dates but typically allow state attorneys general to seek court injunctions against financial institutions using the codes, with potential fines reaching thousands of dollars.
The merchant code could lead more people to buy guns with cash instead of credit in order to protect their privacy, said Dan Eldridge, owner of Maxon Shooter’s Supplies in suburban Chicago. Though his business has yet to be recategorized, Eldridge said he already has placed an ATM in his store.
“Viewed most benignly, this code is an effort to stigmatize gun owners," Eldridge said. "But a more worrisome concern is that this is another private sector end run around the prohibition against the federal government creating a gun registry.”
Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz, a Republican sponsor of legislation banning the firearms code, said he feared federal agents could gain access to data about gun store purchases from financial institutions, then use that as justification to raid gun owners' homes and infringe on their Second Amendment rights.
“States are going to have to make a choice," he said, "whether they want to follow California or whether they’d like to support the original intent of the U.S. Constitution.”
Guns for sale are displayed at Maxon Shooter's Supplies in Des Plaines, Ill., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A new national divide is emerging among states over whether to track sales by gun stores. A California law taking effect Monday will require credit card networks to provide banks with special retail codes to assign to gun stores. By contrast, new laws taking effect in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming will prohibit the use of special gun shop codes in financial transactions. A total of 17 states have passed some sort of limit on category codes for gun retailers, while California has been joined by Colorado and New York. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Maxon Shooter's Supplies owner Dan Eldridge poses in his store in Des Plaines, Ill., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A new national divide is emerging among states over whether to track sales by gun stores. A California law taking effect Monday will require credit card networks to provide banks with special retail codes to assign to gun stores. By contrast, new laws taking effect in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming will prohibit the use of special gun shop codes in financial transactions. A total of 17 states have passed some sort of limit on category codes for gun retailers, while California has been joined by Colorado and New York. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Guns for sale are displayed at Maxon Shooter's Supplies in Des Plaines, Ill., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A new national divide is emerging among states over whether to track sales by gun stores. A California law taking effect Monday will require credit card networks to provide banks with special retail codes to assign to gun stores. By contrast, new laws taking effect in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming will prohibit the use of special gun shop codes in financial transactions. A total of 17 states have passed some sort of limit on category codes for gun retailers, while California has been joined by Colorado and New York. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Maxon Shooter's Supplies owner Dan Eldridge poses in his store in Des Plaines, Ill., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A new national divide is emerging among states over whether to track sales by gun stores. A California law taking effect Monday will require credit card networks to provide banks with special retail codes to assign to gun stores. By contrast, new laws taking effect in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming will prohibit the use of special gun shop codes in financial transactions. A total of 17 states have passed some sort of limit on category codes for gun retailers, while California has been joined by Colorado and New York. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
