Cardinals top Reds in opener
With 2 runs in the 1st inning, the St. Louis Cardinals held on to an early lead to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3, in a game that the Cardinals were missing Chris Carpenter, who recently went back on the disabled list.
Instead, Brad Thompson started the game on the hill for the Cardinals and save the 2 runs he allowed in the first 2 innings, he was solid.
The Cardinals scored a total of 4 runs in the first 3 innings, including 2 in the 1st. With Ryan Ludwick on 2nd with a double, Rick Ankiel cranked a 2-run homerun to put the Cardinals on top in the 1st.
After the Reds scored a run in the 1st inning on a Chris Dickerson lead off homerun, the Cardinals scored another run in the 2nd inning when Skip Schumaker singled in Felipe Lopez, who lead off the inning with a single.
The Reds again scored a run in the bottom of the 2nd, the Cardinals again scored in the next inning. Jason LaRue’s RBI ground-out scored Albert Pujols to give the Cardinals their 4th run of the game in the 3rd inning.
The Cardinals’ final run of the game came in the 6th inning. Felipe Lopez lead off the inning with a triple and catcher Jason LaRue then sacrificed him in on a fly ball to right field.
Total, the Cardinals tallied up 10 hits, 5 of which were for an extra base. The newcomer Felipe Lopez had a nice night, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and his 2nd triple since coming to the Cardinals. Albert Pujols had two doubles and a single in his 5 at-bats.
Cardinals’ starter Brad Thompson pitched 5 innings on 3 hits and 2 runs scored. He walked only 1 while striking out 4.
Jaime Garcia, Kyle McClellan, Ron Villone and Chris Perez pitched a total of 4 scoreless inning of relief baseball for the Cardinals. Perez got the save, his 4th of the season.
Today, the Cardinals will take on the Reds again at 6:10 CT. Joel Pineiro (5-5, 4.82 ERA) will start for the Cardinals against Aaron Harang (3-12, 5.17 ERA) for the Reds.
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