Reds roll past Cardinals, lengthen lead in NL Central

Reds roll past Cardinals, lengthen lead

ST. LOUIS — Rookie left-hander Travis Wood hit his first homer and allowed one unearned run over seven innings to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-1 win over St. Louis on Saturday.

The Reds, who have won seven of their last nine games, moved eight games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.

Wood (5-2) gave up five hits and struck out three in besting Adam Wainwright (17-10), who lost a career-high fourth successive decision.

Cincinnati has won 15 of its last 20 games since dropping three in a row to St. Louis in early August. The Reds have made up nine games in the standings since that sweep.

The Cardinals have lost nine of their last 11 contests. Wainwright allowed seven hits and two earned runs in five innings.

St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols broke out of a career-worst 0-for-18 slump with a single in the sixth inning. He had gone hitless in 17 at-bats from July 4-7, 2001, his rookie season.

Wood allowed five singles and never let a runner get beyond second base after the first inning.

Cincinnati rookie left-hander Aroldis Chapman, making his third appearance, faced three batters in the eighth inning. He walked Jon Jay but got Pujols to ground into an inning-ending double play. Chapman registered as high as 103 miles per hour on the radar gun.

The Reds scored three unearned runs off Wainwright in the first inning. Jonny Gomes led the way with a two-run double. St. Louis second baseman Aaron Miles booted a potential double-play grounder off the bat of Joey Votto with one out. Scott Rolen then drew a walk to load the bases before a ground out by Ramon Hernandez brought in Cabrera with the first run. Gomes followed with a double to left.

Wood homered with two out in the fourth to push the lead to 4-1.

Votto, who had two hits, drove in his NL-leading 98th run of the season with an RBI single in the ninth.

Matt Holliday drove in Jay with a first-inning single for the Cardinals’ only run. Jay reached on a hit and moved to third on a wild pickoff attempt by Wood.

Notes: St. Louis had won the previous five games between the teams. … Wainwright fell to 11-2 at home and 9-3 in day games this season. … Cabrera made his first start since August 2. He had been on the DL with a strained left oblique muscle. … Cincinnati OF Yonder Alonso got his first major league hit with a pinch-hit double leading off the ninth. … Reds OF Jay Bruce was held out of the lineup for the fourth game in a row with soreness in his right side. … Cincinnati is 30 -15 since the All-Star break. … The Reds have been in first place in the NL Central for the last 21 days. …Cincinnati, San Diego and the New York Yankees are the only teams to fashion winning records each of the first five months of the season.