Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 3
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, May 23, 2014
Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Temperature: 76°
Umpires: Home - Bill Miller, 1B - Victor Carapazza, 2B - Adam Hamari, 3B - Jim Wolf
Attendance: 37271

Reds 5, Cardinals 3: Todd Frazier hit a three-run homer and Devin Mesoraco added a solo shot as host Cincinnati took the opener of the three-game set.

Brayan Pena also drove in a run for the Reds, who have lost nine of their last 10 series against St. Louis. Homer Bailey (4-3) improved to 6-10 against the Cardinals after allowing three runs and eight hits in six innings while Aroldis Chapman worked around a two-out single in the ninth to earn his fourth save in five chances.

Allen Craig drove in two runs and Jhonny Peralta added an RBI for St. Louis, which had won seven of its previous eight games and saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. Shelby Miller (6-3) won his previous six decisions before allowing four runs and five hits while striking out five in five innings.

Frazier crushed a 1-0 down-the-middle fastball over the wall in center with two on in the third to give Cincinnati a 3-0 lead. The Cardinals got two back in the fourth as Matt Carpenter led off with a single and Kolten Wong walked before Craig drove in both two batters later with a single to left.

The Reds made it 4-2 in the bottom half as Jay Bruce began the frame with a double and scored on Pena's sacrifice fly. Mesoraco, who nearly homered in his first two at-bats, crushed Seth Maness' 0-1 offering into the first row of the second deck in left with one out in the sixth to extend Cincinnati's advantage to 5-3.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Pena made the defensive play of the game in the eighth inning, when he dived to snare Matt Holliday's grounder down the first-base line and delivered a perfect backhand flip to Jonathan Broxton covering the bag. ... Bruce returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with a left knee injury and went 1-for-4. ... Miller's previous loss was a 4-0 setback to Cincinnati on April 9.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Shelby Miller Player Homer Bailey
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 6.0
5 Strikeouts 4
5 Hits 8
7.20 ERA 4.50
Hitting
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Matt Carpenter Player Brayan Pena
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
2 TB 2
.500 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 10 0 10 .294 14 6 3 2 0 0
Cincinnati 9 2 16 .290 9 7 5 1 2 0