Cincinnati Reds defeat St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 - MLB Recap
Ramon Hernandez hit a pair of solo home runs, as the Cincinnati Reds exploded for a 7-3 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals, at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, on Friday, May 13.
Brandon Phillips also scored as he went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and three RBIs for Cincinnati, which has won the first two contests of this three-game series and has won seven of their previous nine games overall.
“It’s like gaining two games,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Instead of being 2 1/2 out, we’re only a half-game out. If that’s any indication of what’s coming up, it’s going to be exciting.”
Johnny Cueto (2-0) allowed three unearned runs on three hits over seven innings in his second start of the season. He also struck out five and walked two in the winning effort.
"He kept his focus the whole game. He wasn't trying to do too much," Hernandez said of Cueto.
Jon Jay made a three-run homer for St Louis, which has dropped three of four games.
Kyle McClellan (5-1) gave up four runs on seven hits over six full innings to take his first loss since September 18.
Cincinnati provided Cueto some early run support, as Phillips and Hernandez led off the second and third, respectively with solo homers.
The Reds tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Hernandez initiated the innings with his second home run of the game, as he blasted over the wall in centre-field. Drew Stubbs extended the lead to 4-0 when he reached base on a fielder's choice, stole second
and scored on Phillips' single.
After allowing a lead-off single in the third, Cueto retired 13 consecutive batters. Matt Holliday doubled off Cueto with two outs in the seventh. He had three hits for St Louis, helping them pull ahead 5-2 and increasing his batting average to .398. Phillips'
sacrifice fly in the seventh made it a 5-0 game.
"We just had a tough day against Cueto," St Louis' acting manager Joe Pettini said.
The Cardinals made things a bit interesting in the eighth. Daniel Descalso took advantage on a pair of errors and Tyler Greene reached to the base. Jay Bruce then smacked Cueto's offering over the wall in right with an RBI single and scored on Scott Rolen's
double to cut the deficit to 5-3.
However, Cincinnati put the game away with two runs in the eighth. Fred Lewis made an RBI single off Jason Motte with men on first and second and one out. Stubbs followed with a single of his own to put runners on the corners. Lewis then capitalised on a
wild pitch to score for a 7-3 edge.
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