Cardinals jump on Reds early, hold on for 5-4 win

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<p>ST. LOUIS &mdash; Yadier Molina homered and doubled to help St. Louis build a 5-0 lead, Alex Reyes pitched out of a ninth-inning jam and the Cardinals held on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Friday night.</p>
<p>Kwang-Hyun Kim (1-0) allowed one run on five hits with a career-high eight strikeouts as St. Louis snapped a two-game skid. Three of Kim’s four major league wins have come against Cincinnati.</p>
<p>Sonny Gray (0-1) allowed five runs on six hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings in his second start after opening the season on the 10-day injured list with a strained back muscle. The Reds have lost five straight games for the first time since Sept. 22-27, 2019.</p>
<p>Reyes got the final two outs for his fourth save.</p>
<p>Cincinnati sent six batters to the plate in the ninth. Jonathan India lofted a triple off Jordan Hicks that fell between center fielder Dylan Carlson and right fielder Justin Williams, cutting the St. Louis lead to 5-2. Pinch-hitter Tucker Barnhart walked, prompting Cardinals manager Mike Shildt to turn to Reyes.</p>
<p>Reyes walked Tyler Naquin to load the bases and then walked Jesse Winker to score another run. Castellanos struck out, but a wild pitch on strike three allowed Barnhart to score.</p>
<p>Eugenio Suárez worked a 3-2 count against Reyes before he struck out looking to end the game.</p>
<p>Molina hit his fifth home run of the season with one out in the bottom of the second to put St. Louis up 1-0.</p>
<p>The Cardinals broke the game open with a four-run, one-out rally in the third. Paul Goldschmidt doubled in two runs, Nolan Arenado singled to drive in Goldschmidt and Molina doubled to right-center.</p>
<p>Nick Castellanos homered to left to open the sixth inning. It was his seventh homer of the season and his 1,000th career hit. Castellanos was serenaded with boos in his first game back from serving a two-game suspension for precipitating a benches-clearing incident against the Cardinals on April 3.</p>
<p>REDS ROSTER SHUFFLE</p>
<p>The Reds recalled RHPs Heath Hembree and Ryan Hendrix from their alternate training site and optioned LHP Cionel Pérez and INF Max Schrock. </p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Reds: INF Mike Moustakas continues to recover from a non-COVID-19-related illness that has kept him on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Apr. 17.</p>
<p>“We’re going to take the weekend to get him back into as much baseball activity as he needs and have him ready to go in LA,” manager David Bell said.</p>
<p>Cardinals: Placed 1B John Nogowski on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Apr. 20 with a bone bruise on his left hand and activated OF Tyler O’Neill (right groin strain). … Molina left the game after batting in the bottom of the fifth with right foot soreness.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>LHP Wade Miley (2-1, 2.25 ERA) starts for the Reds against John Gant (0-2, 3.21), who returned to the St. Louis starting rotation this season for the first time since 2018. </p>
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