CINCINNATI(AP) -- Micah Owings' pitching is finally catching up to
his bat.

The Cincinnati right-hander homered and pitched into the seventh
inning to help the Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on
Saturday.

Owings (6-8) allowed six hits and two runs in 6 2-3 innings with
two walks and six strikeouts for his third win in last four
starts.

"I just feel like I'm taking the same approach every game,"
Owings said. "I come in here, get ready between starts and focus
on each pitch - and I know the guys behind me will help."

Reds manager Dusty Baker believes pitchers such as Owings and
Homer Bailey, who set a career high with 7 1-3 innings in
Friday's 7-4 loss to the Cardinals, are getting their feet on
the ground.

"They're getting some innings behind them," Baker said. "Guys
tend to get sharper. Owings certainly had his breaking ball
going pretty good today."

Joey Votto also homered and drove in two runs and Willy Taveras
had three hits to help lift the Reds to their third win in their
last four games.

Reliever Nick Masset, who had to leave Friday's game after
Yadier Molina lined a ball off of his right bicep as the leadoff
hitter in the ninth inning, got Albert Pujols to ground out with
runners on first and second and two outs in the seventh inning.
That was less than 24 hours after Pujols hit a grand-slam in the
eighth inning to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

"I threw my best stuff at him," Masset said. "I really didn't
try to stay away from him. I wanted to go at him, but keep it
out of his power zone."

Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save.

Colby Rasmus, who went into the game leading NL rookies with
eight home runs and 29 RBIs, gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with a
one-out homer in the first inning. That run was the first scored
by St. Louis for Brad Thompson in his last three starts.

The Reds tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Taveras's
one-out single to center and Votto's first triple of the season,
a line drive into the right field corner that caromed past right
fielder Rick Ankiel and rolled along the right field wall.

Owings gave the Reds a 2-1 lead in the second with his third
home run of the season and eighth of his career, a 391-foot shot
off the roof of the Reds bullpen in left-center field.

"I put a good swing on it, drove through it and got it up enough
to go out," he said. "I won't ever complain. I'm blessed that I
can swing the bat. I enjoy it, and I take pride in it. I always
have, and I always will."

Thompson knew Owings was dangerous, especially when he gets a
hittable pitch.

"I threw him a cement mixer of a breaking ball, and he did some
work on it," Thompson said.

Two Cardinal throwing errors helped Brandon Phillips round the
bases and give Cincinnati a 3-1 lead in the third. Phillips
reached second base on shortstop Tyler Greene's throwing error
and tagged up and went to third on Jay Bruce's flyout to Rasmus
on the warning track in right-center field. St. Louis catcher
Yadier Molina tried to pick Phillips off of third as Edwin
Encarnacion was striking out, but Molina's throw sailed over the
head of third baseman Joe Thurston and down the left field line,
allowing Phillips to trot home past the catcher, who was
crouched with his head down near the baseline.

Votto hit Thompson's first pitch of the fifth inning 420 feet
into the right field seats for his 10th homer of the season and
first since June 25 in Toronto. Phillips and Bruce followed with
singles, and Phillips scored from third on Jerry Hairston Jr.'s
fielder's-choice grounder.

Pujols scored from third base as catcher Ramon Hernandez tried
to throw out Ankiel, who advanced from first to second on
Bruce's throw home following Molina's fly ball to right field in
the sixth.

Thompson (2-5) has lost his three starts. The Reds reached him
for five runs - four earned - on nine hits with two walks and
four strikeouts.

"Thompson was OK," manager Tony LaRussa said. "It looked like
most of the damage came on breaking balls that spun in the
middle of the plate. He got hurt with them."

Notes: Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan was scratched from the
original starting lineup because of an upset stomach. Tyler
Greene replaced Ryan and went 0-for-4 to extend his streak of
consecutive hitless at bats to 21. Ryan singled as a
pinch-hitter leading off the eighth.