St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) – Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price
elected to have Johnny Cueto walk Jon Jay with one out to load the bases and
bring up Yadier Molina.
Bad decision.
Molina cleared the bases with a go-ahead double in the bottom of the seventh
inning and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 in the
opener of a three-game set.
Matt Holliday singled to lead off the seventh and Jhonny Peralta doubled after
Matt Adams struck out to put runners on second and third. Following Jay’s free
pass, Molina banged his two-bagger to left for a 4-1 advantage.
Michael Wacha (2-0) outdueled Cueto (0-2) for a second straight start. He
allowed a run on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts for St. Louis,
which has won five of its last six games.
Kevin Siegrist tossed the final two innings to pick up his first save of the
season.
Matt Carpenter smacked a pair of doubles and scored two runs in the triumph.
Cueto fanned 10, but surrendered four runs on six hits and a walk over seven
frames for the Reds, who have dropped five of its last six contests on the
heels of a 4-0 start.
Joey Votto’s solo blast, his fourth of the season, opened the scoring in the
first, but the Cards got the run back in the home half on a Holliday sacrifice
fly.
The Cards added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. Carpenter scored when
Brandon Phillips was unable to handle a hot-shot bouncer off the bat of Adams.
A Peralta sac fly made it 6-1.
Game Notes
The Cardinals honored former second baseman and manager Red Schoendienst with
a special ceremony to celebrate his 70th year in baseball. He had his No. 2
written out on the infield dirt behind the second base bag … Molina’s 65 RBI
against the Reds are his second most against any opponent … The Cardinals
were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, while Cincy finished 0-for-4.
