ST. LOUIS — St. Louis jumped on Houston starter Lucas Harrell for four first-inning runs Tuesday en route to a 7-0 victory over the Astros before 35,370 fans at Busch Stadium. Adam Wainwright fired his fourth career shutout and matched a career-high with 12 strikeouts to improve to 12-10 this season.
How it went
The Cardinals never were headed after their big first. Jon Jay opened with a double and went to third on Matt Carpenter's roller. Harrell (10-9) then balked in Jay to make it 1-0. Then came singles by Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, David Freese, Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker. Molina's hit made it 2-0; Schumaker's hit made it 4-0. Molina's RBI single and Rafael Furcal's sacrifice fly made it 6-0 in the third, and Jay had an RBI single in the sixth against former Cardinal Chuckie Fick to make it 7-0. Another former Cardinal, Tyler Greene, was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Greene was traded to Houston on Aug. 9.
By the numbers
Wainwright, who is 12-1 in his career against Houston, allowed five hits and one walk. He needed just 105 pitches to dust off the Astros. ... Craig's first-inning gave him a 10-game hitting streak, the longest current streak in the majors. ... Freese's hit in the first ended an 0-for-11 skid. ... Holliday was 1-for-4 and has three hits in his last 36 at-bats.
