ST. LOUIS — Dakota Hudson lapsed into a bad habit that had plagued him. Juan Yepez returned to a good one that had got him to the majors.
Working with more alacrity in his previous two starts, Cardinals right-hander Hudson had allowed just two runs and six hits over 14 innings. “It sure beats pitching slow and bad,” Hudson had said.
In one sense, Hudson was efficient Sunday in that he traversed seven innings with just 95 pitches. But only 56 of those were strikes and not many of them came in the fourth inning when Hudson walked two, hit one and coughed up an early 3-0 lead against the Reds. Cincinnati, after catching the Cardinals, then scored four of the next five runs before hanging on to win 7-6 at Busch Stadium as early-season sensation Yepez continued his rebound with three hits, including a two-run homer in the ninth.
