CINCINNATI _ After an evening that saw Luke Weaver shine and Yadier Molina flummox the Reds fans (yet again), the Cardinals put a curious sheen on what should have been a neat, tidy win Friday night.
With a save situation, they didn't go to their closer.
With an opportunity to use $14-million man Greg Holland in his first save situation of the season, they didn't.
Bud Norris got the call.
The man who would be closer _ if not for the signing of Holland _ pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure a 5-3 victory against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. The save was Norris' second of the season, but his first since Holland joined the team this past Monday as the advertised closer. Holland walked four batters in his first appearance, which came in the extra innings of a tie game.
He was used once since and Friday offered the first save opportunity the Cardinals have had in the ninth inning since Holland's arrival.
The Cardinals' bullpen did not stir as Norris pitched the ninth.
Not as he allowed a flare single.
Not as he walked a batter to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny has described that as making his closer feel like "the king of the world" and that the team is going to side with him for the game. He did that with Trevor Rosenthal, and he did it later with Seung Hwan Oh in recent years. When Norris got his second out of the ninth inning, Holland could be seen in the bullpen stretching and swinging his arms.
He still had his jacket on.
Weaver piloted through four innings without allowing a hit, and when he did the Cardinals tried to preserve the no-hitter by challenging the call at first base.
Replay did not prove conclusively that Paul DeJong's throw beat Devin Mesoraco to first base. That was the first it Weaver allowed _ an infield single. The second one came in the sixth inning, and catcher Molina nearly turned it into an out, too. Through six innings at one of the hardest ballparks in the majors to tame, Weaver had allowed two hits _ and combined they would barely have reached the outfield grass.
Neither left the reach of an infielder.
Weaver would get two batters into the seventh inning before yielding the game to the bullpen. The last pitch Weaver threw was tagged by Mesoraco for a two-run homer that brought the Reds into the game.
Before that contact, the Cardinals had a 5-0 lead built out of hits by Molina and a few others. Molina hit a solo homer in the second inning for his 14th in 97 games at Great American Ball Park. He followed with a two-run single in the sixth inning. That was the same inning that Reds starter Tyler Mahle attempted to get a third time through the Cardinals' order. It did not go well.
Dexter Fowler opened with a solo homer.
Tommy Pham followed with a single, his second hit of the game. Matt Carpenter doubled to right field to put him and Pham in scoring position. Marcell Ozuna skipped a single to left that scored Pham, and then Molina hit his single that scored Carpenter and Ozuna, from second base. Molina's two-run hit pushed the Cardinals' lead to 5-0.
They had scored 14 unanswered runs to that point against the Reds, including the final nine runs of Thursday's 13-4 victory.
All six of the Cardinals' homers in the series have been solo shots.
