Cardinals 5, Astros 3
The first game of this series went pretty well for the Cards. It was a little scary at the end, but it all came out smelling like roses. Pinero pitched a solid game. Officially, he was charged with 2 runs, though the last run came in after consecutive walks by Kinney (that's right, a bases loaded walk was the second of the two, eek!). Pinero's final line 6 2/3 IP, 2 runs, 8 hits. Not a bad outing from a guy who was, well, terrible last season. It got interesting in the 9th when Motte came in for the save. It was Motte's first appearance since blowing the save (and the game) by allowing 4 runs in the 9th of Opening Day. He promptly coaxes a flyout and allows two hits, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. McClellan relieved Motte, striking out Matsui, and getting Hunter Pence to ground into a force out to end the game. It was slightly nerve-wracking, but what Cardinals' save opportunity hasn't been in the past several years?
The offensive hero in this game was definitely Ludwick. He went 2-3 with a HR and 2 RBI's. Skip also got into the fun with a 3-hit night. Pujols is starting to come back to earth a little with an 0-3 night, bringing his BA to a skimpy .412, but with a BB tonight, his free pass total is up to 5 after 5 games. One way or another, the guy's going to get on base.
Cardinals 11, Astros 2
If you had told me prior to this game that Wainwright would throw 100+ pitches and only go 5 innings, that LaRue would pinch hit for Pujols and be followed to the plate by reliever Brad Thompson, that the Cards wouldn't get a hit until the third inning, and that the Astros would have seven baserunners in that same timeframe and then told me that the final score was 11-2. I would have been ticked off that the Cardinals played so bad. However, I would be wrong.
All of those things indeed did happen in this Saturday afternoon match-up, pitting Adam Wainwright against Roy Oswalt; however, the outcome was quite the opposite. Wainwright was shaky for most of the game, but was able to get outs when needed. He only pitched 5 innings, and allowed 4 hits and 3 BB's, but Wainwright walked away this afternoon with a win. A couple late, meaningless runs were scored by the Astros, but the game was long out of their hands by the time they broke up the shut out. Motte came in and pitched a solid 6th inning, allowing a single and striking out two.
The obvious offensive hero in this game was Pujols (yes, the same Pujols that LaRue pinch hit for). With the bases loaded in the 5th and a 2-0 lead, Pujols came out gave every one in Big Mac Land a free Big Mac by absolutely crushing the first pitch into the left field seating area. In his next at-bat, he did something less majestic - a three-run homer. All in all, Pujols had a 2-4 day with 2 HR's and 7 RBI's, not bad.
Cardinals 3, Astros 0
Wow. Lohse was amazing in this game. After allowing a lead-off single at the beginning of the game, he set down 24 straight batters. He ended up pitching a complete game, and allowing only 3 hits in the process. Simply amazing.
It's hard to really pick out an offensive hero in this one, so it's going to Khalil Greene who went 3-4 on the day while scoring 1 run and knocking in another. Solid series by the Cardinals. Solid.
Up next: Cardinals travel to Arizona for a 3 game set, Monday through Wednesday.
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