ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two on and two out in the eighth inning with the heart of the Cincinnati Reds lineup due in a tie game, Adam Wainwright was at a crossroads.

In a brief mound meeting that matched the brisk pace of the game in a 2-1 victory Sunday night, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny showed faith in his ace.

“He just said, `You feel good?” Wainwright recalled. “I said `Yes sir.’ He said `All right, this is your game, let’s go.”

Wainwright walked cleanup man Jay Bruce on a full count, giving him nothing to hit, before escaping. Kolten Wong then hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly off Mike Leake in the bottom half to help the Cardinals finish a three-game sweep.

“At that point he’s the guy we want in the game,” Matheny said. “It’s hard taking him out of the game in that situation.”

Matt Carpenter hit his fifth career leadoff homer and singled for his eighth multihit effort this season as the Cardinals won their fifth straight. Jordan Walden worked around a leadoff hit by Brennan Boesch in the ninth to earn his first save on a night off for closer Trevor Rosenthal.

The game lasted just 2 hours, 2 minutes.

“You blink and it’s the next inning,” Walden said. “We’re sitting down there like `It’s already the fifth? Like `Wow, we’d better start stretching.’

“It’s good, though. We don’t have to sit down there and just look at each other.”

Wainwright (2-1) gave up one run and seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks, improving to 3-0 against the Reds the last two seasons. Leake was more economical, throwing 86 pitches with 66 for strikes.

“Coming into the game against Wainwright you know you’ve got to go out and put up low numbers,” Leake said. “It’s fun facing guys like that.”

Leake (0-1) gave up both runs and four hits in eight innings for the Reds, who have totaled four runs during a four-game losing streak. Brandon Phillips had two hits and an RBI and Joey Votto singled in his first two trips.

“I know we’ve got a much better offense than we’ve shown to this point,” manager Bryan Price said. “I don’t think we’re reaching to think that the lineup that we have out there is capable of not just scoring runs, but scoring a lot of runs.”

Zack Cozart grounded into a forceout to end the eighth and is 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.

Leake got through seven innings on just 76 pitches before Jon Jay doubled to open the eighth, advanced on a fly out and scored without a play on Wong’s sacrifice fly to left.

Leake and Wainwright combined for 25 consecutive outs before Carpenter ended Leake’s run of 15 in a row with a one out-single in the sixth that hiked his average to .400. Carpenter has six consecutive multihit games and nine in the first 11.

Tucker Barnhart’s two-out single in the seventh halted an 0-for-12 stretch against Wainwright with two strikeouts and two balls hit out of the infield.

Carpenter’s fifth career leadoff homer to straightaway center, tied for third-most in franchise history, gave the Cardinals the early lead. It was his first leadoff homer since July 22, 2014 against Tampa Bay.

Three straight Reds reached with two outs in the third and Phillips’ bloop single tied it, ending Wainwright’s run of 19 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings against Cincinnati.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: C Devin Mesoraco may be close to returning to the lineup. He missed his sixth straight start with a left hip injury but was available Sunday to pinch hit. … OF Billy Hamilton was much improved from a groin injury beating out an infield hit Saturday and though he didn’t start also was available.

Cardinals: Matt Holliday started in LF a day after coming out with back tightness after scoring in the first inning. He has an 11-game hitting streak after singling in the first.

RUN TO GLORY

Before the game, Go! St. Louis Marathon women’s winner Andrea Karl ran through finishing tape on the warning track in honor of the victory first granted to an imposter recently.

UP NEXT

Reds: Anthony DeSclafani allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings his last time out at Chicago and faces the Brewers for the second time.

Cardinals: The Cardinals are off Monday before starting a six-game trip. Lance Lynn (1-1, 1.64) gets the call Tuesday at Washington.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jason Heyward wasn’t sure how to react after hitting his first home run as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

The curtain call concept was new to him.

“A couple guys in the dugout said, `They want you to go back out there,”` Heyward said. “So I did. It was a good feeling.”

Heyward’s homer backed a strong six-inning pitching performance by Carlos Martinez as the Cardinals won their fourth in a row.

Matt Carpenter drove in a pair of runs for the NL Central champions.

Zack Cozart homered for the Reds, who have lost three in a row and six of seven.

Cincinnati speedster Billy Hamilton left in the eighth inning after beating out an infield single. He is day-to-day with irritation in his right groin, manager Bryan Price said.

Heyward was acquired from Atlanta in November to replace outfielder Oscar Taveras, who was killed in an automobile accident.

Heyward homered in his 42nd at-bat of the season, connecting in the third inning.

“He’s a big boy with a big swing,” said Carpenter, who had two hits. “Hopefully he’s got a lot more homers left in there for us.”

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny has final approval on all curtain calls.

“They usually look down towards my end of the dugout to see if it is appropriate or not,” Matheny said.

Matheny gave the thumbs-up and the celebration was on.

Martinez (1-0) allowed one run and three hits, striking out four and walking two.

Trevor Rosenthal picked up his fourth save in as many opportunities. He struck out Joey Votto with two on to end the game.

Homer Bailey (0-1) surrendered five runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. He made his first start after beginning the season on the disabled list while recovering from surgery on a torn flexor tendon.

“Early on, I felt I made some pretty good pitches that got hit,” Bailey said. “They put some pretty good swings on them. But it does feel good to get back out there.”

Martinez picked up his first win of the season and need just 86 pitches. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.

“I tried to limit my pitches so I could last longer,” Martinez said. “It worked.”

Carpenter, who has six successive multihit games, improved to 17 for 29 (.586) lifetime against Bailey. His two-run double in the sixth pushed the lead to 5-1 and chased Bailey.

Matt Adams put St. Louis in front with an RBI single in the first. He drove in Matt Holliday, who doubled with two out.

Holliday left the game after scoring with stiffness in his back. Holliday, who has hit safely in all 10 games this season, is day-to-day.

Yadier Molina made it 3-0 with a run-scoring double in the fourth. Molina has eight hits in his last 15 at-bats.

Cozart, who had three hits, pushed his hitting streak to seven games.

“We kept coming at them, we hit some balls hard,” Price said. “But we weren’t able to string together the big inning that we needed.”

Jhonny Peralta of the Cardinals had a nine-game hitting streak snapped.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: Bailey came off the disabled list for the start. RHP Pedro Villarreal was optioned to Triple-A Louisville.

Cardinals: Announced after the game that OF Randal Grichuck will be put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a back strain. They will recall Dean Anna from Triple-A Memphis, who is expected to be ready for the game. … LHP Jaime Garcia threw to hitters on Friday at extended spring training. General manager John Mozeliak indicated that Garcia is still about six weeks away from returning to the roster.

UP NEXT

Reds: RHP Mike Leake (0-0, 4.97) will make his 150th career appearance in the final game of the three-game series Sunday night. He has four career home runs and led NL pitchers in batting average in 2010 (.356) and 2012 (.305).

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (1-1, 2.08) will make his third start of the season. He has not allowed an earned run in his last 17 innings against the Reds.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Michael Wacha pitched seven strong innings and Yadier Molina delivered a bases-clearing double to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night.

With the score 1-1, Matt Holliday led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to right field. He went to third on a one-out double by Jhonny Peralta that landed just in front of left fielder Marlon Byrd and bounced past him.

After Jon Jay was intentionally walked, Molina lined the first pitch from starter Johnny Cueto down the left-field line that scored three.

Joey Votto gave Cincinnati a first-inning lead with his fourth homer, his third against St. Louis.

Matt Carpenter tied the game in the bottom of the inning after doubling, going to third on a groundout and scoring when he somersaulted over catcher Brayan Pena on Holliday’s fly to short center.

After that inning, neither team advanced a runner past first base until the seventh.

The Reds also threatened in the seventh when Zack Cozart hit a slow roller toward third for an infield single and advanced to second when Wacha’s throw sailed past first base. Cozart went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cueto but was stranded when Holliday caught Billy Hamilton’s foul pop.

Wacha (2-0) scattered five hits to beat Cueto (0-2) and the Reds for the second time in the past week. Cueto gave up four runs on six hits over seven innings.

RED’S NIGHT

To mark the 70th anniversary of his major league debut, Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst was honored before the game. He batted third, tripled and scored in a 3-2 loss at Wrigley Field and went on to hit .289 in a 19-year career. Schoendienst, 92, remains a special assistant with St. Louis. “With Mr. (Stan) Musial no longer with us, Red’s taken that banner for what a Cardinal looks like,” manager Mike Matheny said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: C Devin Mesoraco (left hip) returned to the club after missing the team’s series in Chicago but was not in the starting lineup. Mesoraco, 2 for 21 for the season, has not played since Sunday and is not likely to return behind the plate this weekend. C Tucker Barnhart was called up Friday and could back up Pena.

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia, trying to come back from last year’s left shoulder surgery, faced minor-league hitters at extended spring training in Jupiter, Florida. He remains weeks away from a possible return, general manager John Mozeliak said.

UP NEXT

Reds RHP Homer Bailey is scheduled to make his 2015 debut when he opposes RHP Carlos Martinez Saturday afternoon. Bailey underwent surgery last September to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right forearm.

— Associated Press —