The St. Louis Cardinals couldn't hold a 5-2 lead in their first game at Great American Ballpark and the Cincinnati Reds got to Jason Motte in extra innings as the Cardinals' bullpen coughed up game one of the series to the Reds by a score of 6-5. Albert Pujols and Daniel Descalso had two hits and Matt Holliday went 3-5 in the loss; Kyle Lohse pitched six innings and allowed two runs before being lifted for Miguel Batista in the seventh.
Batista, who had allowed five unearned runs and just one earned run before Friday, allowed two hits and walked a batter without retiring one before he was removed for Trever Miller, who walked Joey Votto. Fernando Salas, who was outstanding in two no-hit innings, managed to maintain the Cardinals' lead at 5-4 going into the ninth inning, but Eduardo Sanchez blew the save in the ninth inning and Motte allowed a walk-off hit in the tenth.
Kyle McClellan and Johnny Cueto will start Saturday afternoon's game at Cincinnati, while Chris Carpenter and Travis Wood will take the mound for the final game Sunday.