Nolan Arenado drove in three runs with a triple and a homer to power the St. Louis Cardinals past the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 Saturday.
Arenado’s two-run homer in the eighth inning broke the 4-4 tie and lifted the Cardinals (72-69) to their third victory in four games.
Jonathan India and Nick Castellanos hit two-run homers for the Reds (75-68), who lost for the fourth time in six games.
Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas allowed four runs on six hits in five innings. Genesis Cabrera pitched two scoreless innings, Alex Reyes (7-8) worked the eighth to earn the victory, and Giovanny Gallegos closed the game for his seventh save.
Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings. Lucas Sims (5-3) took the loss after allowing Arenado’s homer.
The Reds took a 4-0 lead in the third inning on Tucker Barnhart’s single, India’s homer, Max Schrock’s single and Castellanos’ homer.
The Cardinals responded in their half of the third inning. Paul DeJong hit a leadoff homer, then Harrison Bader followed with a double.
Mikolas bunted Bader to third base and Tommy Edman’s RBI single cut the lead to 4-2.
DeJong and Bader hit one-out singles in the fifth inning. But pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter hit a double-play grounder. Castillo muffed the replay throw to first base on that play, but Bader was called for interfering with that throw with an illegal slide.
The Cardinals tied the game 4-4 in the sixth inning. With two outs, Tyler O’Neill reached on an infield single and scored on Arenado’s triple.
Dylan Carlson blooped a game-tying RBI double that fell between shortstop Jose Berrero and center fielder Tyler Naquin, who collided on the play. Naquin had to exit the game with bruised ribs.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a one-out double in the eighth inning to set the stage for Arenado’s decisive blast.
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–Field Level Media