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Cardinals drop Cueto, Reds in series opener

C. Trent Rosecrans
crosecrans@enquirer.com
Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter leaps over Reds catcher Brayan Pena to score during the first inning Friday night at Busch Stadium.

ST. LOUIS — Johnny Cueto and the Reds challenged Yadier Molina, and as he's done so many times to the Reds, the Cardinals' catcher delivered.

Molina hit a three-run double in the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and help the Cardinals to a 6-1 victory over the Reds in the first game of a three-game set at Busch Stadium on Friday. The loss dropped the Reds to .500 for the first time this young season at 5-5. Of those five losses, three have come to the Cardinals.

With first base open and one out in the seventh, the Reds elected to intentionally walk Jon Jay to get to Molina. While going by reputations alone that sounds ludicrous, Jay has owned Cueto in the past. Although 0-for-2 at that point in the game, Jay entered the game with a .444 batting average in his career against Cueto (12 for 27), including three home runs.

"(Jay is) one of the few guys who hits Johnny pretty good. With Molina on deck, it seemed to me to make sense to walk Jay to get to Molina - who is a guy who hits well in the clutch, but had to set up the double play and have the better matchup," Price said. "He doesn't hit Johnny as well as Jay does."

After four wide, Molina jumped on Cueto's first offering, a 92-mph fastball, and lined it down the line in left, good for a bases-clearing double and yet another Cardinals' victory over the Reds.

"I was looking for a double play," Cueto said, according to translator Tomas Vera. "I was trying to end the inning with a double play but the pitch stayed over the middle too much. He beat me."

Cueto fell to 0-2 on the season.

The Reds haven't won a series in St. Louis since September of 2011 and have only won two in the history of Busch Stadium, the other coming in 2006, the stadium's first year in existence.

Cincinnati actually led in the first, when Joey Votto hit his fourth homer of the season on Michael Wacha's fifth pitch of the game.

The Cardinals came right back in the bottom half of the inning, as Matt Carpenter led off with a double. After a grounder moved him to third, Matt Holliday hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Billy Hamilton's throw bounced three times, but was at the plate in time to get to Carpenter, but Pena couldn't come up with it. Carpenter flipped over Pena, but got his hand on the plate to tie the game at 1.

"It's one of those plays where you're trying to do whatever it takes to block home plate," Pena said. "The only thing I felt was him jumping over me. I thought I had the baseball. I dropped the baseball and then when I saw the replay, I saw he jumped over me. I've got to go get the baseball and he has to do whatever it takes to score that run."

From that point on, Cueto looked in control, even striking out the side in the sixth, when he had just 75 pitches.

But in the seventh, he got into the fateful jam. Holliday led off with a single and then Cueto struck out Matt Adams looking. But then Jhonny Peralta hit a ball off the end of his bat that blooped into left and then over the head of Marlon Byrd. Byrd was able to get the ball quickly enough to keep Holliday from scoring, but Peralta did go to second on the play, and Holliday to third.

That's when Price went to the mound, his mind already made up that he would order four wide.

"There's really no reason to get beat right there by Jay. He's disciplined enough to not chase pitches if we decide to pitch around him and get himself out. In the end, the best decision is to walk Jay and go after Molina and have an idea of how we want to get the ball on the ground, it just didn't happen."

Cueto then intentionally walked Jay to get to Molina. And Molina did what he seemingly does to the Reds any time there's a big situation — he delivered.

No it didn't. Cueto said he didn't question Price's decision — "You know what, he's the manager. He's the one who knows. He's the one who makes the decision," Cueto said.

Cueto got the next two batters, Kolten Wong and pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds, but the damage was done. Cueto finished with 10 strikeouts and his only walk was the intentional one — but once again the Reds went home empty, and Cueto fell to 2-4 lifetime at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals added two more runs on a hit, a walk and an error in the eighth to give them the final margin of victory.