Poor Homer Bailey. He pitched, in my humble opinion, his best game of the young season, and the decision by Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker to leave him out there to face Albert Pujols would come to bite Bailey.

The end result of Baker’s decision was Albert Pujols lining an RBI double to left field, with the St. Louis Cardinals adding insurance runs in the eighth inning, allowing St. Louis to double up Cincinnati 6-3 at Busch Stadium on Saturday.

Interestingly enough, before the fateful decision by Baker, Bailey owned Pujols and Matt Holliday, both going 0-for-5 prior to the Cards’ run explosion in the eighth. Bailey would leave the game with two outs in the seventh with Carlos Fisher taking over.

Fisher induced a grounder by Holliday to Scott Rolen, but Rolen one-hopped the throw to Joey Votto, kicking off his glove and scoring Pujols from second base.

But the Reds got the runs back in the eighth when Votto’s single against Dennys Reyes scored Ramon Hernandez, and Rolen hit a sacrifice fly which scored Brandon Phillips.

In the eighth, Fisher gave up a double to former Reds catcher Jason LaRue and pinch-runner Jaime Garcia moved to third on a groundout; Fisher would allow a walk to Brendan Ryan.

Baker was forced to bring in Daniel Ray Herrera; the move backfired when Skip Schumaker  lined Herrera’s 1-2 pitch to left, scoring Garcia with the go-ahead run.

Mike Lincoln would come in and walk both Ryan Ludwick and Pujols, forcing home another run. Micah Owings was hastily brought in, and a walk issued to Holliday brought in the sixth run for the Cardinals.

Bailey, despite throwing 121 pitches, pitched respectably as he went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, walking three while striking out six and giving up a home run; Fisher (0-1) took the loss, pitching an inning and allowing two runs on two hits, walking one and striking out one. Herrera pitched to just one batter, allowing a run on a hit.

Votto led the Reds’ attack, going 2-for-4 with an RBI while Phillips also went 2-for-4, with a run scored. Jay Bruce went 1-f0r-3 with a triple and a run scored and Rolen also went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The next game for the Reds will take place on Sunday when they take on the Cardinals in the final game of their series. Aaron Harang (1-3, 7.16 ERA) gets the starting nod for Cincinnati while Chris Carpenter (3-0, 3.48 ERA) gets the start for St. Louis.