ST. LOUIS — You can talk about location, you can talk about velocity, you can talk about hanging pitches, but Brian Reith's explanation of his outing Saturday works pretty well: “It was a mess out there,” Reith said.

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        Yes, it was. Reith, a 23-year-old right-hander, happened to be on the mound when the St. Louis Cardinals broke out of their hitting slump. Reith (0-3) didn't make it through the second inning in the Reds' 8-5 loss Saturday before 41,927 at Busch Stadium.

        The Cardinals had lost four straight coming into the game. In those four games, they had scored a total of four runs. They equaled that in the first inning Saturday.

        Reith probably deserved better. He retired the first batter routinely. He then hit J.D. Drew with a pitch. Craig Paquette followed with a single that sent Drew to third.

        That led to the critical play of the game. Jim Edmonds swung through a pitch to strike out on a hit-and-run play. Catcher Kelly Stinnett's throw to try to get Paquette at second short-hopped Pokey Reese.

        Reese then dropped the ball. That allowed Drew to steal home.

Brian Reith hangs his head as Eli Marrero rounds third after hitting a solo home run in the second inning. | ZOOM |

        There was no error on the play, but Boone thought Stinnett should have thrown out Paquette.

        “That's a play you're supposed to make,” he said. “With Paquette running, you've got plenty of time. It's not like it's Lou Brock. The ironic thing is if Pokey doesn't drop the ball, he throws the runner out at home.”

        Reith then walked Albert Pujols.

        Ray Lankford followed by hitting Reith's first pitch for a three-run homer to right.

        “The pitch stayed up,” Reith said.

        With Matt Morris, who came in 7-3 with a 2.47 ERA, on the mound for the Cardinals, it looked pretty hopeless for the Reds.

        But Michael Tucker got them right back in it with a two-run homer in the second to cut the lead to 4-2.

Pitching coach Don Gullett visits Reith after J.D. Drew also homered in the second. | ZOOM |

        But the second was nearly as bad as the first for Reith. Eli Marrero led off the inning with a home run. An out later, Drew went deep for his 19th of the year (he had 18 all of last year).

        After a double by Paquette and a walk to Edmonds, Reith was done.

        It was only his fourth major-league start, and it was by far the worst. He went 1 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on five hits. In his other three starts, he had given up a total of six runs.

        His ERA went from 3.38 to 6.11.

        “He couldn't locate the ball,” Boone said. “He was missing by a lot.”

        Reith threw 54 pitches. Only 28 were strikes.

        It was still a 6-3 game in the sixth. But the Cardinals scored a run off reliever Scott Sullivan, and the defense gave away another run.

        Pujols was caught off third in a rundown, but Stinnett dropped the ball, allowing him to score.

Sean Casey chases Ray Lankford in a rundown. | ZOOM |

        “The two physical errors cost us big-time,” Boone said.

        If not for Stinnett's error, the two runs the Reds scored in the sixth on Alex Ochoa's double might have made it interesting.

        As it was, the Reds failed to put together two wins again. They haven't won two straight since the five-game winning streak that ended April 28.

        “The Cardinals are a great team,” Reith said. “They have a tremendous lineup. I just wish we could have done a little better. Especially after winning (Friday), it would have been nice to win two in a row.”

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