St. Louis Cardinals top Kansas City behind Mark Reynolds
Kansas City, St. Louis trade blows at Busch
A fifth-inning home run off the bat of Mark Reynolds propelled the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium, going up in the latest round of the I-70 series two-games-to-none.
The St. Louis first baseman got under a 2-2 pitch from Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie, depositing it into the left-field seats for his fourth home run of the season.
The Royals right-hander was charged with all three runs, and given he allowed 10 hits, he was probably lucky to escape with such limited damage. In his five innings of work, he struck out four and walked one.
St. Louis (41-21) moved to 20 games over .500 on the season with the win, despite the mounting injuries the club has sustained, including Matt Holliday, Matt Adams, Adam Wainwright and, most recently, Lance Lynn.
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Tyler Lyons, who is filling in for Lynn during his DL stint, turned in a solid start, allowing two runs on three hits in five innings of work. The long-ball was an issue, though as two of those three hits left the ballpark.
The first Royals home run came in the top of the second when Alex Gordon hit his eighth homer of the season, a solo shot off Lyons that gave Kansas City a short-lived early lead. St. Louis quickly responded in the bottom of the third.
Matt Carpenter, the regular offensive catalyst for the Redbirds, singled to right to score Kolten Wong, tying the game 1-1. A Jason Heyward RBI single in the bottom of the third gave St. Louis its first lead of the game, scoring Reynolds, who accounted for two of the team’s runs.
Kansas City (34-25) answered back in the fourth when catcher Salvador Perez, who hit his team-leading 10th home run off Lyons, continuing the back-and-forth offensive battle.
Trevor Rosenthal picked up his league-leading 21st save of the season, while the Royals bullpen tossed three scoreless innings, performing at their usual near-perfect level.
Wong, Heyward and Reynolds joined backstop Yadier Molina with two hits apiece for the Cardinals. As a team, Kansas City managed just five hits while both teams committed a pair of errors.
What’s Next:
The Cardinals and Royals will meet again on Sunday in the rubber-match of the weekend tilt. Veteran John Lackey (4-4, 3.74) will battle lanky right-hander Chris Young (5-2, 2.25).
First pitch is set for 1:15 p.m. at Busch Stadium.