ST. LOUIS _ The Cardinals scored three times in the first inning and that gave Michael Wacha a chance to find his groove as the Redbirds went on to a 4-2 win on Friday night at Busch Stadium. It was the sixth win in the past seven games for the Cardinals, with five of them coming against the Reds, who were playing their first game under interim manager Jim Riggleman.
Wacha was inconsistent in the first three innings, allowing the leadoff hitter to get on in the first and second and giving up a run in the third. But after walking Joey Votto to start the fourth, Wacha retired the next 11 batters he faced. He came out in the seventh after allowing back-to-back singles. Tyler Lyons came on and got a force at second to end the threat. Wacha improved to 3-1, striking out three and walking one.
It didn't take long for the Cardinals to spoil Riggleman's return to the manager's chair. Tommy Pham, batting leadoff for the second time this season, singled and after Matt Carpenter flew out, Jose Martinez singled _ the first of three hits in the game as his batting average got as high as .369 before finishing the night at .358 _ Marcell Ozuna walked and Pham and Martinez scored on a ground-rule double by Yadier Molina, which gave him the record for most RBIs at Busch Stadium III, breaking the mark held by Albert Pujols. Jedd Gyorko then hit a sacrifice fly to score Ozuna.
The Cardinals got another run in the second when Pham walked with one out, went to second on an infield out and scored on a double by Martinez.
The Reds got the tying run to the plate with no one out in the ninth against closer Bud Norris, but Norris got Tucker Barnhart to hit into a double play before Alex Blandino singled in a run. Norris got Cliff Pennington to line out to short to get the save.
