CINCINNATI (AP) — J.J. Hoover had allowed only a pair of homers all season. No. 3 came at a very bad time.

Matt Carpenter hit a tying homer in the eighth off Hoover, and Randal Grichuk connected in the 13th inning, rallying the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

Grichuk was moved up to second in the Cardinals’ struggling batting order. He doubled home a run in the sixth inning and hit his 15th homer in the 13th off Dylan Axelrod (0-1), Cincinnati’s eighth pitcher.

Seth Maness (4-1) gave up a pair of walks in two innings.

“As everybody anticipated it would, it came down to one swing of the bat,” Reds manager Bryan Price said.

“We were able to string things together, but we couldn’t come up with that knockout blow. We had a 3-0 lead. We just couldn’t put it away.”

Manager Mike Matheny changed the batting order — Grichuk went from batting eighth on Tuesday to second — to try to spark his struggling offense, but the Cardinals didn’t get much going until late in the game.

Left-hander David Holmberg allowed two runs, including Grichuk’s RBI double off the top of the wall in center that cut it to 3-2 in the sixth.

Carpenter tied it with a homer in the eighth off Hoover, only the third that the reliever has allowed this season. It was Carpenter’s fifth homer in his last six games.

“I was trying to throw a fastball up and away, but I pulled it across the plate middle-in,” Hoover said. “That’s not what I wanted to do.”

The Reds strung together walks and infield hits while scoring three times off Carlos Martinez.

They loaded the bases in the third with a walk, an infield single and a fielding error by shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Brayan Pena’s opposite-field double landed just inside the left-field line and made it 2-0.

The Reds loaded the bases again in the fourth with a pair of walks — one to Holmberg — and Brandon Phillips’ single just out of the reach of second baseman Kolten Wong. Todd Frazier’s soft groundout got in another run.

EXTRA, EXTRA

The Cardinals have played 15 extra-inning games, going 7-8. Their longest was an 18-inning loss to the Mets. The Reds have played 13 extra-inning games, going 4-9. They’ve gone as long as 13 innings five times.

STREAKS

Grichuk extended his hitting streak to eight games. Stephen Piscotti’s streak ended at eight games. Jason Heyward’s streak ended at seven games. … Phillips extended his hitting streak to six games. Jay Bruce’s streak ended at six games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Yadier Molina got hit in the facemask by Phillips’ foul tip in the fourth inning. Phillips checked to see if the catcher was all right as he shook off the hit.

Reds: LH Sean Marshall threw off a bullpen mound for the first time since surgery on May 20 to remove scar tissue in his pitching shoulder. He’ll throw every three days.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Michael Wacha (12-4) has won both of his starts against the Reds this season, allowing only two runs in 13 1-3 innings.

Reds: Michael Lorenzen (3-6) tries for his first win since June 21. He’s 0-4 in his last six starts and has been hit hard in his last three, giving up 17 runs in 13 innings.

———

Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay

 

Cardinals 4, Reds 3, 13 innings

St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

M.Carpenter 3b 4 2 1 1 2 2 .263

Grichuk cf 6 1 2 2 0 2 .292

Heyward rf 4 0 0 0 2 1 .285

Jh.Peralta ss 6 0 1 1 0 3 .286

Molina c 4 0 1 0 1 1 .282

Moss 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .158

Rosenthal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Cishek p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

e-Kozma ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .158

Maness p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Piscotty lf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .318

Wong 2b 5 0 0 0 0 0 .268

C.Martinez p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .128

a-Bourjos ph 0 1 0 0 0 0 .224

Villanueva p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Broxton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

b-G.Garcia ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .412

Siegrist p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Reynolds 1b 2 0 0 0 0 2 .223

Totals 43 4 6 4 5 15

 

Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Phillips 2b 6 0 3 0 0 0 .285

Votto 1b 3 1 0 0 3 2 .306

Frazier 3b 6 1 1 1 0 1 .264

Bruce rf 5 0 0 0 1 1 .256

Byrd lf 6 0 0 0 0 2 .245

Axelrod p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

B.Pena c 5 0 2 2 1 1 .278

Suarez ss 6 0 1 0 0 1 .296

Holmberg p 1 1 0 0 1 1 .250

M.Parra p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Mattheus p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Hoover p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

c-Bourgeois ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .189

A.Chapman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Ju.Diaz p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

d-Schumaker ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .224

Badenhop p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

De Jesus Jr. lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .287

B.Hamilton cf 5 0 0 0 0 3 .222

Totals 46 3 7 3 6 13

 

St. Louis 000 002 010 000 1 — 4 6 1

Cincinnati 002 100 000 000 0 — 3 7 1

 

a-was hit by a pitch for C.Martinez in the 6th. b-grounded out for Broxton in the 8th. c-grounded out for Hoover in the 8th. d-struck out for Ju.Diaz in the 11th. e-singled for Cishek in the 12th.

E—Jh.Peralta (4), Votto (6). LOB—St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 11. 2B—Grichuk (20), B.Pena 2 (11), Suarez (8). HR—M.Carpenter (15), off Hoover; Grichuk (13), off Axelrod. RBIs—M.Carpenter (55), Grichuk 2 (40), Jh.Peralta (55), Frazier (68), B.Pena 2 (13). SB—Kozma (2), Phillips (16).

Runners left in scoring position—St. Louis 3 (Jh.Peralta, Molina, Reynolds); Cincinnati 7 (B.Hamilton, Suarez 2, Bruce 2, Holmberg, Frazier). RISP—St. Louis 2 for 7; Cincinnati 1 for 11.

Runners moved up—Frazier. GIDP—Molina, Frazier.

DP—St. Louis 1 (Wong, Jh.Peralta, Reynolds); Cincinnati 2 (Frazier, Votto), (Phillips, Suarez, Votto).

 

St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

C.Martinez 5 6 3 1 3 4 93 2.57

Villanueva 1 0 0 0 0 2 14 1.61

Broxton 1 0 0 0 0 3 18 5.45

Siegrist 1 2-3 1 0 0 0 3 27 1.43

Rosenthal 1 1-3 0 0 0 1 0 16 1.63

Cishek 1 0 0 0 0 1 11 4.03

Maness W, 4-1 2 0 0 0 2 0 24 3.65

Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Holmberg 5 2 2 2 3 3 77 3.27

M.Parra H, 4 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 1 19 3.72

Mattheus H, 6 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 10 4.65

Hoover BS, 4-5 1 1 1 1 0 1 20 2.05

A.Chapman 1 0 0 0 1 3 15 1.74

Ju.Diaz 2 0 0 0 1 5 32 5.01

Badenhop 1 1 0 0 0 1 12 4.01

Axelrod L, 0-1 1 1 1 1 0 1 14 17.36

Holmberg pitched to 3 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored—Rosenthal 1-0, M.Parra 2-1. HBP—by C.Martinez (Holmberg), by Holmberg (Bourjos).

Umpires—Home, Ben May; First, Scott Barry; Second, James Hoye; Third, Ted Barrett.

T—4:14. A—34,700 (42,319).