St. Louis Cardinals Overcome Johnny Cueto

Well, so much for the fear of Johnny Cueto shutting down the St. Louis Cardinals bats.

In the middle game of a three-game set at Great American Ballpark, the Cardinals overcame a solid performance from Cueto to post a 4-1 victory and guarantee a win in the latest series with the Cincinnati Reds.

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This game went down to the wire, but St. Louis tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth and guaranteed the victory.

Here are the highlights from Great American:

*Matt Adams finally busted his bat loose. The first baseman stroked his first homer of the season in the fourth inning off Cueto.

*Yadier Molina also broke off the shackles, smacking two hits to help the Cardinal offense roll. He and Adams were slumping at the plate to begin the season.

*Michael Wacha continued his warm streak on the mound. Wacha had a strong spring and parlayed it into a six-inning performance on Saturday. Wacha overcame a homer by Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier and struck out two for the win.

If I had one thing to complain about in this game, it’s that manager Mike Matheny is following the Tony La Russa formula of letting pitchers face one batter apiece. A steady stream of relievers could have choked away the Cardinal lead, but four relievers bridged the gap between Wacha and closer Trevor Rosenthal.

The teams play the final game of the series on Sunday. The Cardinals are now 2-2 overall.