ST. LOUIS _ The Cardinals' game with the Cincinnati Reds Saturday night at Busch Stadium was trending downward when starter Dakota Hudson walked the bases loaded with nobody out in the third inning in a scoreless game. But sinkerball specialist Hudson then induced two ground balls, the second for an inning-ending double play, as he limited the Reds' damage to one run.
Brad Miller belted a 446-foot homer to spark a two-run Cardinals' fourth and then the home runs came flying in the sixth. Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt hit solo shots and Harrison Bader ripped a 410-foot, opposite-field, three-run homer off left-hander Amir Garrett to account for all the runs in a five-run inning that put away a 7-1 victory for the Cardinals.
The win once again moved the Cardinals one game over .500 at 20-19. Hudson's key number was one, also. That's the number of hits he gave up, which was none, until Joey Votto doubled with two out in the sixth.
Hudson left after the inning, with his third consecutive victory at hand, giving way first to left-hander Genesis Cabrera, who didn't face anyone, having to depart with the re-emergence of a troublesome fingernail problem, which has bothered him twice this season _ once already this month and once in spring training. It was announced, though, that he would be available on Sunday
Veteran lefthanders Tyler Webb and Andrew Miller got through the seventh and eighth without incident and left-handed rookie Rob Kaminsky worked a scoreless ninth.
