Paul Goldschmidt hit two homers and drove in three runs to lift the visiting St. Louis Cardinals past the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 Wednesday in the first half of a doubleheader.
The Cardinals (68-63) won for the fourth time in five games while the Reds (71-63) lost their fourth straight game.
Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas allowed four runs on five hits in three innings. Genesis Cabrera (3-5) followed with two scoreless innings to earn the victory.
Giovanny Gallegos closed out the seventh inning for his fourth save.
Reds starting pitcher Wade Miley (11-5) allowed five runs on his season-high 12 hits in four innings.
The Cardinals struck first when Goldschmidt crushed a 439-foot homer to center field in the first inning. Tyler O’Neill followed with a single and Dylan Carlson hit a two-out single, but Miley got Edmundo Sosa to ground into an inning-ending forceout.
Harrison Bader’s solo homer boosted the Cardinals’ lead to 2-0 in the second inning. Andrew Knizner’s single and Goldschmidt’s two-out walk gave them a chance to tack on runs, but Miley struck out O’Neill to strand the runners.
The Reds countered in their half of the inning. Joey Votto drew a leadoff walk, Kyle Farmer reached on a one-out infield single, and Tucker Barnhart hit an RBI single.
Miley helped his cause by hitting a two-out, two-run double into the left field corner to put the Reds up 3-2.
The Cardinals tied the game 3-3 in the third inning. Nolan Arenado hit a leadoff single, raced to third base on Carlson’s single, and scored on Sosa’s sacrifice fly.
The Reds regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, Nick Castellanos hit a one-out single and scored on Votto’s double to make it 4-3.
The Cardinals took a 5-4 lead in the fourth inning when Tommy Edman hit a one-out single and Goldschmidt followed with a two-run homer.
–Field Level Media