By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ST. LOUIS - The schedule makers waited until Friday - more than one-third of the way through this season - before matching the Reds against the Cardinals.

Game 1 of 19 proved worth the wait.

Clutch hits. Diving catches. Splendid starting pitching. A blown save.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols topped all that with a game-winning home run off Reds reliever Mike Matthews in the 10th inning.

St. Louis won 4-3 before 37,946 at Busch Stadium. The loss snapped Cincinnati's three-game win streak and pushed its road losing streak to eight games.

"Both teams battled," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "It just didn't finish up the way we would have liked it to."

The Reds trailed until the eighth. A leadoff single by catcher Javier Valentin followed by a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Jacob Cruz tied the game at two.

Some creative managerial substitutions, a bunt single by second baseman Ryan Freel and a ground ball by shortstop Barry Larkin followed to give Cincinnati a one-run lead.

That lead vanished in the bottom of the ninth with Reds closer Danny Graves pitching. A walk and three Cardinals hits tied the game at 3 and forced extra innings.

St. Louis second baseman Tony Womack came to bat with runners on first and third in the ninth, and hit a slow grounder to shortstop.

Larkin scooped the ball with his glove but could not get off a throw. The ball dropped to the infield grass as Marlon Anderson scored to make the score 3-3.

"With Tony Womack hitting, I'm just going in there hoping the ball bounces up and it didn't," Larkin said. "I didn't have a chance."

Matthews, who pitched for the Cardinals from 2000-2002, came on in the 10th inning. Right-handed hitters were batting .067 against him before Friday.

Pujols, a .381 hitter against left-handers entering the game, led off the inning and took two balls before sending Matthews' third offering over the right field fence.

"(Matthews) was option A all the way," Miley said. "He fell behind Pujols and that gave (Pujols) the upper hand and he took advantage of it."

When two starters throw as efficiently as Cory Lidle and Chris Carpenter did for their teams in the early going Friday, a little offense goes a long way.

"Both starting pitchers went head-to-head," Miley said.

Lidle, the Reds starter, retired 14 of the first 17 Cardinals batters he faced and allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings.

Carpenter, the Cardinals starter, retired the first 10 batters he faced and 15 of 16 batter through the fifth inning.

The right-hander left the game with one out in the eighth and the Reds ahead 3-2.

A sharply-hit single by Larkin in the fourth inning was the extent of Cincinnati's offensive output through six innings.

Lidle, meanwhile, did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the third inning.

Even so the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Third baseman Scott Rolen drew a leadoff walk and stole second. He went to third on a ground ball by center fielder Jim Edmonds and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Lidle struck out the first two batters in the third inning before Womack doubled and Roger Cedeno singled. Lidle fielded Cedeno's ground ball and spun toward home, throwing out Womack at home plate to end the inning.

After that, Lidle reverted to previous form.

He retired seven more Cardinals batters - striking out three of those - before Womack singled up the middle with one out in the sixth.

A single by Cedeno moved Womack to third where he scored on another sacrifice fly to put St. Louis ahead 2-0.

The Reds made it 2-1 in the seventh on a run-scoring double by first baseman Sean Casey.

That brought up center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. for the third time in the game.

With flashbulbs popping on every pitch during his at bats, he went 0-for-4 Friday. A diving catch by Griffey in the eighth inning cause a minor scare, but he remained in the game.

CARDINALS 4, REDS 3, 10 innings

CINCINNATI					ST. LOUIS
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Freel 2b	5	0	1	0	Womack 2b	5	1	3	1
Larkin ss	4	1	2	1	Cedeno lf	4	0	2	0
Casey 1b	4	0	1	1	Isringhausen p	0	0	0	0
Griffey Jr. cf	4	0	0	0	Mabry ph	1	0	0	0
Dunn lf	3	0	1	0	Tavarez p	0	0	0	0
Hummel 3b	4	0	0	0	Pujols 1b	4	1	2	2
JClark rf	4	0	0	0	Rolen 3b	3	1	1	0
Valentin c	3	0	1	0	Edmonds cf	3	0	0	0
FLopez pr	0	1	0	0	Renteria ss	2	0	0	1
TJones p	0	0	0	0	RSanders rf	4	0	0	0
Graves p	0	0	0	0	Matheny c	3	0	1	0
DJimenez ph	1	0	0	0	MAnderson ph	1	1	1	0
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	YMolina c	0	0	0	0
Lidle p	2	0	0	0	Carpenter p	2	0	0	0
JaCruz ph	1	0	1	1	King p	0	0	0	0
LaRue c	1	1	0	0	Lankford lf	1	0	1	0
Totals	36	3	7	3	Totals	33	4	11	4

Cincinnati	000	000	120	0-3
St. Louis	010	001	001	1-4

No outs when winning run scored.

DP-St. Louis 1. LOB-Cincinnati 4, St. Louis 8. 2B-Casey (25), Valentin (4), JaCruz (4), Womack (15), Pujols (19), Lankford (11). HR-Pujols (18). SB-Rolen (2). CS-Renteria (3). S-Carpenter. SF-Pujols, Renteria.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Cincinnati
Lidle	7	6	2	2	2	7
TJones	1	1	0	0	0	0
Graves	1	3	1	1	1	0
MMatthews L,1-1	0	1	1	1	0	0
St. Louis
Carpenter	7	1-3	6	3	3	1	7
King	1	1	0	0	0	0
Isringhausen	2-3	0	0	0	0	0
Tavarez W,1-0	1	0	0	0	0	3

MMatthews pitched to 1 batter in the 10th.

Umpires-Home, Gary Darling; First, Mark Carlson; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Bill Hohn.

T-2:50. A-37,946 (50,345).