CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The defending National League champions opened the season with a lot of waiting. wholesale jerseys . And a couple of wins, too. The St. Louis Cardinals overcame another long delay and Todd Fraziers two homers on Thursday, holding on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 and take two of three in their season-opening series. The first pitch was delayed 3 hours, 42 minutes because of rain. Some of the Cardinals spent their down time by studying Cincinnatis pitchers again and getting a little extra work in the indoor batting cages. "Its tough to stay mentally into it," said Matt Adams, who had a single and a pair of doubles. "Thats what we had to do to make sure we could go out there and perform. Were watching video and taking swings in the cage and stretching and making sure were ready to go." Finally on the field, the Cardinals emerged from their two-game hitting slump by knocking Homer Bailey (0-1) out of the game in the fifth inning. Jhonny Peralta homered to get it going. It wasnt perfect -- St. Louis stranded eight runners -- but it was much better. "We had a lot of opportunities that we missed, too," manager Mike Matheny said. "We had a lot of guys in scoring position." St. Louis pulled away with three runs in the seventh, when Matt Hollidays single off the top of the outfield wall was upheld by the only video review of the series, this one initiated by the umpires. Lance Lynn (1-0) gave up Jay Bruces two-run homer and Fraziers solo shot during five innings. Frazier added a three-run homer in the seventh that cut it to 7-6. Trevor Rosenthal got the last four outs for his second save. The series involved nearly as much waiting as playing. There was a 2-hour, 40-minute delay before Wednesdays game, a 1-0 victory by Cincinnati. Along with the delay on Thursday, the teams wound up waiting 6 hours, 22 minutes to play during the two days. As Thursdays delay stretched on, Reds reliever Sam LeCure tweeted: "Uncle." "The whole series was kind of weird with all the rain and stuff," Frazier said. "It really put a damper on things." The starters had a rough time after the delay. Lynn beat the Reds three times last season, but couldnt get a 1-2-3 inning on Thursday. Bruce and Frazier hit back-to-back homers in the first for a 3-0 lead. Even Bailey had a single off Lynn, who gave up eight hits while throwing 107 pitches. Peralta hit a two-run homer in the second off Bailey, and the Cardinals tied it with a breakthrough hit in the fourth. Adams doubled and came around on Jon Jays double, the Cardinals first hit with a runner in scoring position this season. They had been 0 for 17. Jays hit also extended his hitting streak to 15 games, including the end of last season. Hollidays first hit of the season, an RBI double, put the Cardinals up 4-3 in the fifth. Bailey lasted only 4 1-3 innings, giving up seven hits, three walks and four runs. The Cardinals added three in the seventh, when they loaded the bases on a pair of walks and Hollidays single off the top of the wall. The ball went over Billy Hamiltons glove and deflected to Bruce, who caught the ball. The umpires correctly ruled that it a hit off the top of the wall, and a 2-minute, 8-second review initiated by the umps upheld the call. They wanted to make sure the ball hadnt cleared the wall. Allen Craig and Yadier Molina followed with RBI singles as St. Louis pulled ahead 7-3. NOTES: The game ended 7 hours, 23 minutes after it was originally scheduled to start. ... Shelby Miller starts for the Cardinals in Pittsburgh on Friday against Gerrit Cole. Mike Leake goes for the Reds in New York against the Mets Jenrry Mejia. ... Adams dived into the stands trying to catch a foul ball, and pushed a fan who reached up and caught it before he could get it. "I was trying to stop myself from going into the stands," Adams said. "People came up to me and said I shoved him. I didnt even know. Im not that type of guy to go after anybody." ... It was Fraziers fourth career multihomer game. ... Hamilton walked in the eighth inning, reaching base for the first time this season. He is 0 for 12 with six strikeouts. cheap jerseys from china . Maxime Presseaults goal at 13:59 of the second period broke a 2-2 deadlock for the Foreurs, who trailed the series 3-2 before winning back-to-back games, and Guillaume Gelinas and Pierre-Maxime Poudrier also scored. nfl jerseys china . The GWAA takes into account more than just a players performance on the PGA Tour. Scott won four times around the world, none bigger than his playoff victory at Augusta National to become the first Australian in a green jacket. BOSTON -- Never one to take a lot of time between pitches, John Lackey had extra motivation to throw quickly and get out of the biting chill at Fenway Park. Lackey pitched eight solid innings with temperatures in the low 40s as the Boston Red Sox beat the slumping Tampa Bay Rays 7-4 on Tuesday night. "I try to work fast," Lackey said. "Especially when its cold, Im trying to get guys in the dugout. It wasnt a whole lot of fun out there on the field today." Lackeys teammates showed their appreciation with a five-run rally in the sixth as the Red Sox opened a three-game series with a win over their AL East rivals. Shane Victorino drove in his first two runs of the season while going 4 for 4, hiking his batting average from .133 to .316. Victorino was playing in his fourth game after missing the first 22 with a hamstring injury. He singled in his first two at-bats, hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth and added an RBI double in the sixth. "We knew it was going to take a couple of games for him to get his feet on the ground," Boston manager John Farrell said. "He does give us a completely different dynamic in that 2-hole. When we can set the table for that middle of the order, weve got a chance to score some runs." Lackey (4-2) scattered six hits and allowed two runs, striking out five and walking one. After the Rays scored twice in the ninth, Koji Uehara came in and struck out Ben Zobrist on three pitches for his sixth save. Jackie Bradley Jr. had a pair of doubles and two RBIs as the Red Sox got 13 hits and won for the third time in four games. Xander Bogaerts was the only Boston starter without a hit. "It was good to see the evenness throughout the at-bats 1 through 9," Farrell said. The Rays lost for the seventh time in eight road games and are 4-9 away from home. Wil Myers had two hits and scored a run for the Rays. James Loney hit two doubles and joined Myers as the only Tampa Bay players with more than one hit. Both scored in the ninth on a throwing error by Bogaerts at shortstop. The Rays began the second leg of a 10-game road trip, which they started 1-3 in Chicago. Erik Bedard held Boston to one run through five innings, but the bullpen could not stop the Red Sox in the sixth. Tampa Bay manaager Joe Maddon said both starters had good command, but it was a tough night for relievers to sit through the frigid conditions and then have to pitch. wholesale nfl jerseys. "Bedard was good. I thought Lackeys command was good tonight," Maddon said. "Its hard. Its hard for both sides. The game was not meant to be played in this kind of weather. But youve got to fight through it." Brandon Gomes (1-1) started the sixth inning and immediately walked Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes. Juan Carlos Oviedo took over with one out and fared no better. A.J. Pierzynski hit an RBI single, then Will Middlebrooks and Bradley hit back-to-back doubles. Bradleys shot to centre bounced off the wall in one of the deepest parts of Fenway Park, scoring Pierzynski and Middlebrooks easily. Bradley went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Victorinos ground-rule double. The Red Sox scored three more on three hits off Oviedo. Boston scored five times in the inning and sent nine batters to the plate. "Thats something that we normally dont do," Maddon said. "Were normally pretty good at minimizing damage. Weve got to do a better job of that." Bedard got his third no-decision in four starts. He allowed four hits, striking out four and walking three. Middlebrooks walked to start the fifth and went to third when Bradley doubled to centre. The Rays nearly got out of it when Dustin Pedroia lined out to third baseman Evan Longoria, who made a dive for the bag. Middlebrooks was diving in the other direction and barely beat the tag, then scored on Victorinos fly to centre to put Boston up 1-0. The Rays got the run back in the sixth when Desmond Jennings doubled with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Longoria. Ryan Hanigans single in the seventh drove in Myers, who led off the inning with a double that was just a few feet left of being a homer to centre. NOTES: Napoli has reached base in 24 of 25 games this season. ... It was the 28th anniversary of Roger Clemens first 20-strikeout game for Boston, when he broke the major league record for a nine-inning game against Seattle. ... Red Sox DH David Ortiz played in his 1,994th game. ... Tampa Bay played its 1,000th game since shortening the teams name to Rays in 2008. cheap jerseys ' ' '
