CINCINNATI _ For his first win of the season, Dakota Hudson did what so many of his peers on the pitching staff have with groundball after groundball, zero after zero, and, this time around, deeper into the game.
He just had more support to show for it.
Paul DeJong hit his first career grand slam to catapult the Cardinals and Hudson to a 7-5 victory Monday against Cincinnati at the Great American Ball Park. DeJong's four RBIs and Paul Goldschmidt's five time on base highlighted a second consecutive day with a pulse for the Cardinals' lineup after a week groping for production.
Goldschmidt had an RBI double for the Cardinals' first run. He scored the Cardinals' third run on Yadier Molina's sacrifice fly, and he took one of two two-out walks right ahead of DeJong to set up the grand slam.
Hudson (1-2) didn't need much at his back given what he had at his fingertips.
In his most complete start of the season so far, Hudson allowed only two balls out of the infield after the first inning. One went for a fly out, and the other for a double. Consecutive groundouts with a six-run lead allowed the Reds to turn that double into a run, and that was the only earned run the Cardinals got against Hudson.
He did not walk a batter. He struck out three and allowed four hits.
In the third inning, Hudson struck out the side in order. In the fifth, he retired all three Reds he faced, and did so on eight pitches. The final three were for a strikeout of No. 8 hitter Freddy Galvis.
Goldschmidt reached base five times in a game for the 21st time in his career. In 22 plate appearances against the Reds this season, he has reached base 15 times.
The Cardinals needed three pitchers to get the three outs in the ninth inning. That was mostly because of a matchup that worked out for them by bringing in Jake Woodford to face a righthanded hitter, and then an inning that went upside down on him. Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run homer to bring Gio Gallegos into the game for the save.
He struck both batters he faced for his second save of the season.
