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Cards wait out storm, beat Reds

Apr 23, 2011 - 6:14 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Kyle McClellan was pushed out of a starting role due to an incoming storm, but ended up pitching six-plus strong innings after a lengthy delay, helping the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

The weather turned nasty with rain, hail and tornadoes in the St. Louis area causing a delay of 2 hours, 10 minutes in the top of the first inning. Fans were moved to a safe area as tornado sirens blared. It was a dangerous situation throughout St. Louis. Several people were cut by shattered glass at Lambert airport. Trees and power lines were down around the area.

Miguel Batista walked Drew Stubbs to begin the contest, but after the teams came back from the delay, McClellan (3-0) held the Reds to seven hits and a pair of runs. Mitchell Boggs threw the final 1 1/3 innings for his second save.

"Kyle just proves how strong of a mind he has. Mind controls your effort and the effort was there," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Albert Pujols drove in two runs for the Cardinals, winners of three in a row and seven of their last nine games. Ryan Theriot went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.

Matt Maloney (0-1) was charged with eight hits and three runs over two-plus innings. He started in place of Edinson Volquez, who didn't pitch after pre- game warmups.

Brandon Phillips, who was booed throughout the game, homered for the Reds, losers in five of their last six games. The crowd didn't respond kindly to Phillips in the opener of this three-games series between the NL Central rivals. He made some inflammatory comments about the Cardinals last season, and the teams had a benches-clearing brawl on August 10 at Busch Stadium. Even recently, on Twitter, Phillips acknowledged that he loved his new name, "Boo Phillips." He even Tweeted during the game criticizing the fans for not booing properly.

That only seemed to fan the flames and Phillips responded later in the game with a small salute to the crowd upon rounding third base on his solo homer to left in the fifth.

Yadier Molina singled in Lance Berkman in the bottom half of the frame, though, for a 4-1 lead.

The Reds put men in scoring position in the sixth, but couldn't score and they loaded the bases in the seventh, but could only muster a sacrifice fly from Jonny Gomes. They had runners at second and third with two down, but Eduardo Sanchez retired Jay Bruce on a fly ball to end the threat.

A base-running blunder by Chris Heisey squashed a rally in the top of the eighth. Heisey singled to put runners at first and second, but later was caught off the base. Molina's snap throw to first got Heisey in a rundown and Miguel Cairo was eventually tagged out to cap the frame.

Drew Stubbs singled to start the ninth, but Boggs retired the next three batters.

Pujols lifted a sacrifice fly in the first and singled in Theriot in the second. David Freese's base hit plated Lance Berkman in the third for a 3-0 margin.

Game Notes

Reds reliever Jared Burton had arthroscopic surgery Friday to clean out his right shoulder. He's on the 60-day disabled list...The Reds totaled 10 hits, but went 1-for-13 with men in scoring position and stranded 11 runners on base...Reds third baseman Scott Rolen had a pair of cortisone injections Thursday to relieve pain and stiffness in his left shoulder and neck. He sat out Friday's game.