Reds continue mastery of Cards
CINCINNATI — Asher Wojciechowski frustrated St. Louis for five innings, and that was enough.
The right-hander gave one of his best performances in his return to the rotation, and Joey Votto drove home a pair of runs with a double and a single on Friday night to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.
The Reds have won all five games against St. Louis at Great American Ball Park this season. They lead 8-3 in their season series.
Wojciechowski (2-1) started after making six relief appearances in July, taking the place of the injured Scott Feldman. Wojciechowski allowed only three hits, including Mike Leake’s run-scoring infield single, and left after throwing 78 pitches.
“He’s a mature kid,” manager Bryan Price said of the rookie. “He’s not going to get his feelings hurt if he has to leave. It’s been a while since he went that long.”
Wojciechowski felt strong on a cool night but didn’t object to leaving after five innings.
“It feels great,” he said. “I was out there trying to do what I had been doing in the long relief role.”
Votto had a pair of RBI hits off Mike Leake (7-10), who fell to 0-5 in eight career starts against his former team.
Billy Hamilton added a run-scoring single off Leake, who allowed eight hits in six innings.
“It’s part of the game,” Leake said. “Something’s telling me I’m not supposed to beat them yet.”
Votto played in his fifth All-Star Game and then went into a 5-for39 slump that dropped his average to .295. He has hit safely in his last nine games.
Michael Lorenzen gave up Carson Kelly’s RBI single in the eighth, and the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs. Randal Grichuk took a called third strike to end the threat.
Raisel Iglesias gave up a single and a walk in the ninth before finishing his 19th save in 20 chances.
St. Louis stranded seven runners in the last three innings, setting up another close loss.
“We put together some good at-bats at times, but we just can’t get the big hit,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.