ST. LOUIS _ What one player trying to establish himself started and a veteran who has a statue on order continued, rookie Dylan Carlson punctuated with a flourish Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Harrison Bader rallied the Cardinals with a two-run homer that tied the game. Yadier Molina put them ahead with the second of his career-high four hits.
And Carlson added the exclamation.
The rookie's first major-league homer run brought home two and sent the Cardinals to their 6-2 victory against the Cincinnati Reds. The win gave the Cardinals the series victory as well, 3 games to 1.
In the seventh inning, the Cardinals were holding on to a one-run lead when Matt Carpenter opened the inning with a double. Molina brought Carpenter home with the fourth single of the game. That tied Molina's career-high for hits in a game, and it's the 19th time he's had four.
"He's a legend," said shortstop Paul DeJong. "He passes somebody every day in a new record, it seems."
Molina was at first when Carlson worked Reds reliever Nate Jones to a full count.
From the left side of the plate, the switch-hitting prospect took a close pitch so that he could stay alive and crush his pitch.
Carlson's first homer ricocheted off a railing and into the Cardinals' bullpen for safe-keeping.
Carlson entered the game with a .114 average and left it with two runs scored two hits, and one souvenir.
Daniel Ponce de Leon had a sluggish start to the game with more balls thrown than strikes going through the second inning. Still, he was able to find enough traction in the game to get the Cardinals into the fifth inning with a lead. Ponce de Leon pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on three hits and four walks. Both of the runs came on a first-inning homer by Eugenio Suarez.
Bader answered those runs with his second homer in as many days.
"We had a good plan going in," Bader said, "and we were able to capitalize on every opportunity. We're in a great position _ getting Yadi back is huge, and Paulie, that's my guy. We're just going to continue to play our brand of baseball and go out there and try to get Ws."
