Yadier Molina smacked four hits and drove in two runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals past the visiting Cincinnati Reds 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Five Cardinals pitchers combined to hold the Reds to three hits. Genesis Cabrera (2-1) earned the victory with two scoreless innings of middle relief.

Harrison Bader and Dylan Carlson hit two-run homers for the Cardinals, who won three times in the four-game series.

Losing pitcher Tyler Mahle (0-1) allowed three runs on five hits and two walks in three innings.

Cardinals starter Daniel Ponce de Leon allowed two runs on three hits, four walks and a hit batter in 4 2/3 innings.

The Reds exploited his wildness for a 2-0 first-inning lead. Nick Castellanos walked and Eugenio Suarez crushed a 3-1 pitch for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

After Kolten Wong hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning and Paul Goldschmidt drew a one-out walk, Mahle struck out the next two batters to strand them.

Ponce de Leon's struggles continued in the second inning. He hit Freddy Galvis and walked Tucker Barnhart, but Joey Votto flew out and Castellanos grounded out.

Bader tied the game 2-2 with his two-run homer in the bottom of the second.

Goldschmidt hit a leadoff double in the third inning and scored on Molina's single to put the Cardinals up 3-2.

In the fourth inning, Carlson hit a leadoff single. Bader walked and Wong bunted the runners over, but reliever Michael Lorenzen escaped without further damage.

Castellanos hit a one-out double in the fifth inning and Jesse Winker walked. But Ponce de Leon struck out Suarez, and Cabrera got Mike Moustakas to pop out to strand the runners.

Matt Carpenter hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning and Molina hit a one-out single, but Lorenzen once again worked out of trouble.

Carpenter hit a leadoff double in the seventh inning off reliever Nate Jones and scored on Molina's RBI single. Carlson hit his first big league homer 406 feet to right center to push the lead to 6-2.

--Field Level Media