ST. LOUIS -- There are few guarantees in life, but besides death and taxes one of them might be the St. Louis Cardinals winning a series from the Cincinnati Reds.

Right-hander Carlos Martinez threw six solid innings and third baseman Matt Carpenter continued his mastery of Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey with two hits and two RBIs Saturday in St. Louis' 5-2 win at sold-out Busch Stadium.

Martinez (1-0) allowed just three hits, one of them a leadoff homer by shortstop Zack Cozart in the top of the fifth. Martinez walked two and struck out four.

Carpenter gave the Cardinals (7-3) breathing room with a two-out, two-run double to right-center in the bottom of the sixth, upping their lead to 5-1. In his career against Bailey, Carpenter is 17-of-29 (.586) with four RBIs.

It was the fourth straight win for St. Louis, which has won 14 of its last 16 series against the Reds (5-6). Since 2003, Cincinnati has taken just three of 34 series in St. Louis.

Bailey (0-1) went 5 2/3 innings in his first start of the season, allowing nine hits and five runs with three walks and no strikeouts. It was just the fifth time in 167 MLB starts that Bailey didn't record a strikeout.

First baseman Matt Adams put the Cardinals on top in the first with a two-out RBI single that scored left fielder Matt Holliday, who had doubled. But Holliday left the game before the top of the second with a tight back.

Right fielder Jason Heyward cracked his first homer in the bottom of the third, a solo shot into the St. Louis bullpen in right-center, to make it 2-0. Catcher Yadier Molina upped the advantage to three in the fourth by lining a run-scoring double to right-center.

The Reds, who lost for the sixth time in seven games, received an RBI single from second baseman Brandon Phillips in the eighth.

Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal earned his fourth save, whiffing first baseman Joey Votto for the last out with runners at second and third.

NOTES: To make room for RHP Homer Bailey, who was activated from the 15-day disabled list, Cincinnati optioned RHP Pedro Villarreal to Triple-A Louisville. ... St. Louis 2B Kolten Wong, who started the team's first nine games, got the day off in favor of Pete Kozma. ... Cardinals 3B Matt Carpenter has six doubles, all in the first four games of the team's current homestand. That's the most for a Cardinal in the season's first nine games since Ray Lankford collected seven in 1995.