Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals defeat Cincinnati Reds in 6-3 win

Before Carlos Martinez came in to pitch the rest of the sixth inning with runners on second and third, Garcia got a much-needed assist from Ellis when he made a leaping catch to rob Devin Mesoraco of a hit that would have surely drove in a few runs. After being down 2-0 in the count, Martinez got Jay Bruce to swing and miss three times to strike him out and end the inning. Martinez was back out on the mound to pitch the seventh inning. He allowed two runners on–both advancing on a wild pitch–before striking out Chris Heisey and Todd Frazier to end the inning.

Seth Maness came out to pitch the eighth inning. After Mesoraco grounded into a double play, Randy Choate came out of the bullpen to strikeout Jay Bruce to end the inning.

Matheny turned to Jason Motte to start the ninth inning. With the Cardinals leading comfortably with a 6-2 lead, there was no need to go to Trevor Rosenthal as it was not really a save situation. With Motte giving up a lead-off homer to Ryan Ludwick and a runner on first with two outs, Matheny made the decision to go to Rosenthal when the Reds sent up Billy Hamilton as a pinch-hitter. Hamilton singled to put runners on first and second but Rosenthal struck out Frazier to pick up his 15th save of the season and give the Cardinals a win.

Holliday and Jay both had 3 hits for the Cardinals on Saturday night. Molina and Carpenter had two hits a piece, with Molina now having 20 multi-hit games this season. While the Cardinals left nine players on base, they hit 4-for-9 in scoring position.

With Craig getting some reps in at first base on Saturday night, it should be noted that he’s hitting .300 in the last ten games.

The Cardinals will finish the weekend series on Sunday night against the Reds on ESPN.