On the other side, the Cardinals parlayed a series of bloop hits that fell just out of reach of Reds defenders.
As they say, they are all hits in the scorebook and it resulted in a 3-0 Cardinals victory.
Manaager David Bell used his alternate lineup that he uses against left-handed pitchers, a lineup sprinkled with players who don’t usually play, a lineup that was 5-and-1.
But it produced only four hits, three by No 9 hitter Kyle Farmer.
“I hate to take anything away from their pitcher, no question he did his job and he got outs, which is the name of the game,” said Bell. “We were squaring balls up and they were in great position. We hit the ball hard, a lot of balls right at them.”
The beneficary of his defense catching all those line drives by Korean-born Cardinals pitcher Kwang Hyun Kim. The St. Louis left hander used a four-pitch repertoire, mostly off-speed stuff, to keep Reds hitters on their heels. He held them to no runs and three hits over six innings to notch his first major league win.
The unfortunate one was Reds starter Wade Miley, who gave up three runs, seven hits and three walks for his five innings.
The Cardinals went on Bloop Patrol in the third inning to plate two runs.
It began with a one-out flare in shallow right field by No. 9 hitter Harrison Bader and he hustled it into a double.
Kolten Wong rainbowed one to shallow left field and when shortstop Freddy Galvis his throw back to the infield, permitting Wolten to bolt to second.
That put two runners in scoring position and the Cardinals cashed in when Tommy Edman hump-backed one into short left field to score two runs.
“It was a big night for Wade,” said Bell. “He had great tempo, was throwing strikes, had all his pitches working. There were a few balls we just weren’t physically able to get to. That happens.”
There was no bloop in the ball No. 9 hitter Bader hit leading off the fifth inning. His ball carried over the right-field wall, his first home run of the season to give the Cardinals a 3-0 working margin.
The Reds put together their own rally in the eighth inning against the St. Louis bullpen.
Curt Casali opened the inning with a walk from John Gant. St. Louis manager Mike Shildt immediately lifted Gant for Andrew Miller.
Galvis swung at the first pitch and hit into a double play. But Farmer singled, his third hit, and Joey Votto walked.
Nick Castellanos, representing the potential tying run, struck out to end the uprising.
The Reds went down in order in the ninth, the last out made by Mark Payton, making his major league debut.
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