Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 5
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, August 24, 2012
Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Temperature: 90°
Umpires: Home - Jordan Baker, 1B - Ted Barrett, 2B - Brian Runge, 3B - Tim McClelland
Attendance: 36162

Cardinals 8, Reds 5: Allen Craig and Yadier Molina hit back-to-back home runs to spark a six-run sixth inning as visiting St. Louis rallied to beat Cincinnati and pulled within six games in the National League Central race.

The Reds and starter Mat Latos (10-4) appeared to be in control until the sixth, when Craig launched a three-run shot - his 19th - to tie it at 5-5 and Molina followed with his 17th to give St. Louis the lead.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had a quick hook on starter Lance Lynn, who allowed four runs on six hits before leaving with two on and no outs in the third. Joe Kelly (4-5) picked up the slack with three innings of one-run ball for the win, and four relievers worked one scoreless frame apiece with Jason Motte earning his 30th save.

The Reds brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but Motte struck out Scott Rolen to end it.

Craig went 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games, the longest active streak in the majors. Molina and Skip Schumaker also had three hits apiece for the Cardinals.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Cardinals have hit back-to-back homers eight times this season. … Reds rookies Zack Cozart (11 games) and Todd Frazier (nine games) both extended their career-best hitting streaks. Frazier went 3-for-4 and is hitting .438 during his streak. … The Reds have lost nine straight games on Fridays. … St. Louis pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts. … Cardinals RHP Edward Mujica has thrown 11 1/3 scoreless innings in 11 appearances since being acquired from Miami.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Lance Lynn Player Mat Latos
No Decision W/L Loss
2.0 IP 5.0
1 Strikeouts 5
6 Hits 9
18.00 ERA 12.60
Hitting
St. Louis   Cincinnati
Skip Schumaker Player Todd Frazier
3 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
3 TB 3
.750 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 14 2 20 .368 12 6 7 2 1 1
Cincinnati 13 0 15 .333 23 14 4 3 0 0