Adams homers, spurs Cardinals to 4-1 win over Reds

CINCINNATI -- Matt Adams' first hit sent the Cincinnati Reds to their first loss.

The St. Louis first baseman snapped a hitless start to the season at 10 at-bats with a leadoff homer in the fourth inning, lifting the Cardinals to a 4-1 victory Saturday that ended the Reds' winning streak at four.

"I got to the park early, and my early work felt good," said Adams, who was robbed of a hit in the second inning on a diving catch by left fielder Marlon Byrd. "It carried over into the game. He left a changeup up, and I was able to get the barrel through it."

Kolten Wong had a sacrifice fly, Jhonny Peralta and Yadier Molina added ninth-inning RBI singles and Michael Wacha pitched into the seventh to get the win in his first appearance of the season.

Wacha (1-0) shook off Todd Frazier's first-inning home run to go 6 1-3 innings, allowing five hits and one run with a walk and two strikeouts. He stranded a runner in scoring position in each of his last four full innings and needed just 76 pitches to earn the win.

"That team over there is very aggressive early in the count," he said. "I was able to keep it down in the zone and get some weak contact."

The Reds left five runners in scoring position. Cincinnati's fourth-through-eighth batters are hitting .200 or less.

"We didn't have much going on offense, but it was a close game until the end," manager Bryan Price said.

Trevor Rosenthal, the Cardinals' fifth relief pitcher, got five outs for his second save.

Adams led off the fourth inning by lofting a one-strike pitch 355 feet down the right-field line and on to the netting above the visitors' bullpen to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead.

That was the only earned run allowed by Reds starter Johnny Cueto in 14 innings this season -- a 0.64 ERA. Cueto (0-1), who turned in seven shutout innings without a decision in Cincinnati's 5-2 win over Pittsburgh in Monday's opener, again went seven, giving up four hits and two runs with four strikeouts. He also hit a batter.

Frazier, before a sellout crowd of 41,525 on his bobblehead day, gave Cincinnati the lead with his third home run of the season, a 342-foot drive into the seats down the left-field line on a 3-0 pitch with two outs in the first.

The Cardinals tied it by loading the bases with one out on Frazier's error of Peralta's sharp one-hopper -- Cincinnati's first error of the season -- a hit batsman and Molina's single, setting up Wong's tying sacrifice fly. Molina's hit was his first in 11 at-bats.

Trainer's room

Cardinals: Jon Jay returned to the starting lineup on Saturday after getting Friday off so that Randal Grichuk could get some playing time. Grichuk responded with a two-run homer.

Reds: The Reds have used the same starting lineup for their first five games after being able to use last year's projected starting eight just 12 times all season. The last time the Reds used the same lineup for a season's first five games was 1989, according to Elias Sports as reported by the team.

Up next

Cardinals: After 11 career relief appearances against the Reds, Carlos Martinez makes his first start against Cincinnati and his first start of the season today. The right-hander pitched a scoreless relief inning last Sunday against the Cubs in Chicago.

Reds: Cuba native Raisel Iglesias is set to make his major league debut with a start today.

Pack 'em in

Saturday's sellout crowd was Cincinnati's second in five games. The Reds needed 23 games to log their second sellout last season.

The bird's a target

Jon Jay led the majors by being hit with pitches 20 times in 2014. His first of 2015 helped the Cardinals tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning.