Reds Top Cardinals, 5-4, to Sweep Series

By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Joey Votto hit a two-run double and David Ross followed with a two-run homer Thursday, sending the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory that completed the St. Louis Cardinals' road trip to ruin.

The Cardinals lost all seven games on their trip, capped by their first three-game sweep in Cincinnati since July 1998. It's their first winless trip of at least seven games since May 1972, when they went 0-7 in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

It's a bad time to be making historical references.

The defending World Series champions had closed to within a game of first place in the NL Central before hitting the road and the skids. The latest loss dropped them 4 1/2 games out.

Votto doubled home a pair of runs in the sixth off Kip Wells (6-17), and Ross followed with his first homer since July 23. The catcher had been 1-for-15 since returning from a concussion on Aug. 28.

Aaron Harang (15-4) gave up three hits and three sacrifice flies - two by Albert Pujols - in seven innings. David Weathers gave up an RBI single in the ninth before becoming the ninth Cincinnati closer to reach the 30-save mark.

It was the Cardinals' costliest trip of the season by far.

In addition to losing precious games in the standings, they lost third baseman Scott Rolen, who had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, and outfielder Chris Duncan, who aggravated a hernia and is likely out for the season.

Now, they're running out of time. They play four games against the Cubs this weekend in St. Louis, and have three left in Milwaukee - the two teams they're chasing.

The Cardinals faced the Reds' top two starters during the series - just the way it worked out - and didn't do much against either. They lost to Bronson Arroyo 7-2 on Wednesday night.

David Eckstein led off Thursday's game with a double and scored on a sacrifice and Pujols' sacrifice fly. That was the only hit the Cardinals managed off Harang in the first five innings.

The Reds wasted several chances against the enigmatic Wells, who lost seven straight games earlier this season and now has lost his last four starts. The Reds left the bases loaded in the third, when Edwin Encarnacion popped out.

They loaded the bases again in the fourth, but managed only Jeff Keppinger's sacrifice fly that tied it at 1. Votto's RBI double - his third hit of the game - broke the tie in the fifth, and Ross followed with his first homer in 53 at-bats.

Another sign of how things are going for St. Louis: It was only the third homer off Wells in the right-hander's last 71 innings.

Notes:@ Wells has given up 21 runs in 18 innings during his streak of four straight losses as a starter. ... Slumping OF Rick Ankiel was out of the Cardinals' lineup. He pinch-hit and went 0-for-2, leaving him in a 1-for-23 rut. ... Reds OF Josh Hamilton was out of the lineup with a strained right hamstring. SS Alex Gonzalez was out with a sore left knee. ... Weathers is 30-for-35 in save chances. He's the first Reds reliever to get 30 saves since Danny Graves in 2002. ... The Reds head to Milwaukee, where the Brewers will face starters Tom Shearn, Kirk Saarloos and Matte Belisle in a three-game series.