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Reds down Cards, avoid sweep

Apr 20, 2012 - 3:53 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Brandon Phillips, Ryan Ludwick and Drew Stubbs each homered in support of a strong outing from Bronson Arroyo, and the Cincinnati Reds averted a three-game sweep by doubling up the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3, at Busch Stadium.

Arroyo (1-0) scattered five hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter over eight innings. The right-hander's lone mistake was a three-run homer by Matt Holliday.

"Getting those runs early helped me to be more aggressive with guys," said Arroyo. "Anytime you get that can support it takes a lot of the weight off your shoulder."

Phillips and Joey Votto added RBI singles for the Reds, who notched their 9,999th win in franchise history.

Adam Wainwright (0-3) gave up four runs on seven hits in five frames for St. Louis, which had its winning streak snapped at four games.

"He wasn't as sharp as he wanted to be," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said about Wainwright. "It's part of the rehab process, you got to feel your way through it and figure out how you're going to pitch on days you don't feel quite right."

Wainwright missed all of 2011 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Phillips, who entered Thursday without an RBI through eight games this year, ended the drought in the fourth with a one-out blast to left field. Jay Bruce then singled and scored on Ludwick's home run that just cleared the wall in left.

Cincinnati led 4-0 in the fifth when Phillips' two-out single plated Zack Cozart.

The Cardinals got to Arroyo in the sixth. Rafael Furcal and Jon Jay hit back- to-back singles before Holliday snapped an 0-for-11 streak at the plate with his third home run.

Stubbs made it 5-3 in the seventh and Votto extended the lead to three in the ninth.

Sean Marshall gave up a leadoff single to Holliday in the bottom of the inning, but struck out the next three batters to earn his second save.

Game Notes

Arroyo notched his first win against the Cardinals since May 16, 2010 and won in St. Louis for the first time since April 28, 2008...Stubbs went 3- for-5...Jay left the game in the top of the eighth inning with a right shoulder sprain. He is listed as day-to-day...Furcal singled twice for his third straight multi-hit game.