CINCINNATI -- Joey Votto hit a pair of two-run home runs, and Jason Marquis had a solid six-inning effort in his Cincinnati debut, lifting the Reds to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game weekend series at Great American Ball Park.

Right-hander J.J. Hoover (2-0) earned the victory for Cincinnati, which improved to 4-0.

Flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts for his second save.

Center fielder Randal Grichuk, making his first start of the season for St. Louis, hit a two-run home run.

Reds right-hander Jason Marquis overcame early wildness to last six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

John Lackey started for St. Louis (1-2) and the right hander gave up four earned runs on just four hits in six innings.

But, Lackey's walk to leadoff batter Billy Hamilton and a single by Marquis proved costly as both preceded Votto's two-run homers.

The Cardinals scratched out three singles against the Reds bullpen in the seventh, including an RBI hit by right fielder Jason Heyward that tied the score 4-4.

Opportunistic baserunning by Hamilton led to the go-ahead run for Cincinnati in the eighth.

Hamilton was walked by right-hander Jordan Walden (0-1), stole second to improve to 7-for-7 on the season, then advanced to third on Walden's wild pitch.

Third baseman Todd Frazier lifted a relatively shallow fly ball to right field. Hamilton tagged and slid home just ahead of Heyward's throw, putting the Reds ahead 5-4.

Marquis, making his Reds debut after signing a minor league deal in January, labored in the first inning.

He walked two and had one wild pitch but nearly escaped trouble before Jhonny Peralta's perfectly placed grounder snuck down the third-base line for a double, driving home Matt Carpenter with the Cardinals' first run.

Votto's a two-run homer, his second home run of the season coming on a 1-1 pitch from Lackey, put the Reds ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the first.

Marquis' struggles continued in the second when he gave up Kolten Wong's single followed by Grichuk's two-run homer, a 430-foot blast to left, putting St. Louis ahead 3-2.

But Cincinnati regained the lead on Votto's second home run in as many at-bats, another opposite-field homer on a 2-0 pitch from Lackey.

Marquis settled down, retiring 12 straight after Grichuk's homer, including five strikeouts.

NOTES: Reds RHP Homer Bailey will start Sunday for Triple-A Louisville vs. Toledo. On Sept. 5, Bailey had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right forearm. He expects to return in late April. ... Cincinnati began the season 3-0 for the first time since 2011, when the club started 5-0. ... Cardinals C Tony Cruz was placed on the three-day bereavement list on Friday for the birth of his daughter. Ed Easley was recalled from Triple-A Memphis to replace Cruz as Yadier Molina's backup catcher for this weekend's series in Cincinnati. ... Cardinals CF Randal Grichuk made his first start of the season.