• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Nine-run ninth helps Reds top Cardinals

Apr 9, 2013 - 1:36 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Brandon Phillips' RBI double broke a tie game and sparked a nine-run ninth inning, as the Cincinnati Reds ran away with a 13-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in their home-opener.

The rally occurred against St. Louis closer Mitchell Boggs (0-1), who was charged with six earned runs -- seven total -- on four walks and two hits. He recorded just one out.

Shin-Soo Choo, whose two errors earlier in the game plated three of St. Louis' runs, scored the go-ahead run in the ninth and later provided a bases clearing double near the end of inning. Reliever Sam LeCure (1-0) picked up the win with a perfect eighth.

"We battled back, this team is so resilient," said LeCure. "Our lineup is very long and our guys put up some tough at-bats."

Phillips, who had a solo homer earlier in the contest, went opposite field on his hit to put the Reds ahead for good. It stayed just inside the right field foul line for a double, and Choo raced home after getting on with a walk.

Boggs then completely unraveled, forcing in a run with a walk to Todd Frazier before allowing Jack Hannahan and Ryan Hanigan to reach base, which brought two more runs in.

"This is the worst outing of my career," said Boggs. "Just wasn't good today, there's no other way to say it. There's no excuse, I didn't execute."

Marc Rzepczynski then took the mound and surrendered Choo's bases clearing double in between RBI singles from Cesar Izturis and Joey Votto.

The Cardinals, who had honored the late great Stan Musial prior to the start of the contest, had a 4-2 lead after Choo's blunder in the sixth allowed Matt Holiday to cross the plate. Starter Jamie Garcia struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings of work, but was removed after Chris Heisey's RBI double brought the Reds within a run.

The Reds then pulled even off St. Louis reliever Trevor Rosenthal on Xavier Paul's pinch-hit RBI single before breaking the game open in the ninth.

A fly ball from Yadier Molina in the first got the Cardinals a 2-0 lead, with Choo dropping it in center to allow Jon Jay and Holiday to score. Jay Bruce cut the margin in half for the Reds with an RBI single in the fourth, but Molina countered with a run scoring single in the bottom half.

Phillips' solo homer in the sixth inning brought the Reds within 3-2.

Game Notes

Garcia came into the contest with a 6-0 record and a 2.11 ERA in six starts at home against Cincinnati ... St. Louis' David Freese made his season debut after being sidelined with a back injury. He was 0-for-3 ... Cincinnati starter Mat Latos pitched six innings. He yielded four runs -- one earned -- on four hits with five strikeouts.