ST. LOUIS _ Dissatisfied that he had walked three hitters and had lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his first big-league start at Wrigley Field on Monday, Cardinals lefthander Kwang Hyun Kim said, in essence, he would have to step up his game.
So Kim walked no one and allowed just two singles and a double Saturday night as he pitched a comfortable six innings, throwing 83 pitches, in beating the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0, in his first Busch Stadium start as a Cardinal.
Kim said that one of his main duties as a starter, which he was for 12 seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization, was to lessen the toll on the bullpen. The Cardinals did use three relievers in John Gant, Andrew Miller and Giovanny Gallegos but they had to cover only three innings, with Gallegos earning his first save of the season.
Harrison Bader, who had had three hits for the season, two of them on the infield, smacked his first homer of the year in the fifth inning when he connected for a 410-foot shot to right center off Wade Miley.
The hit was the second of the game for Bader, who entered it hitting .125. Counting Kyle Farmer, who had three hits for the Reds, the ninth-place batsmen for both teams accounted for five hits, which was as many as both teams combined for on Friday.
The Cardinals made the most out of two bloopers to the outfield as they hustled themselves into two runs in the third inning.
Bader, the ninth-place hitter, floated a hit among three Reds defenders into short field and head-firsted his way into second ahead of right fielder Nick Castellanos' throw although the Reds might have taken a shot at challenging second-base umpire C.B. Bucknor's verdict.
Kolten Wong then dumped a single to left where Jesse Winker missed a sliding catch. Shortstop Freddy Galvis recovered the ball and fired home. Bader already had stopped at third but Wong took this opportunity to take second.
Tommy Edman, 5 for 13 (.385) with men in scoring position, then gave Kim the lead with a two-run single to left center. Kim, making his 301st professional appearance _ 298 of them were in the Korean Baseball Organization, ripped through six innings allowing just three hits in his first home start for the Cardinals.
The left-hander, unhappy with the three walks he gave up in 3 2/3 innings in Chicago last week, passed no one through six.
