Final
Cardinals blank Astros
Sep 26, 2012 - 6:53 AMVideo
St. Louis, which has won four straight, now sits 4 1/2 games ahead of the Dodgers and the Brewers for the final wild card spot in the National League.
Garcia (6-7) gave up just six hits with five strikeouts to win his second straight start while Yadier Molina and Peter Kozma each drove in a run for the Cardinals, who have won 10 straight over the Astros.
"I'm feeling good right now, physically," said Garcia. "I'm just worrying about one game at a time, one pitch at a time; just make my pitches and give the team a chance to win,"
Lucas Harrell (10-11) remained winless over his past seven starts as he gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings of work for the Astros, who have lost six of eight. Brandon Laird and Jose Altuve each had two hits in the loss.
"I felt like I never picked up a baseball before," said Harrell. "It was embarrassing and it was bad."
The Cardinals got the only run they needed in the first inning on Molina's sacrifice fly that drove in Jay.
With two outs in the second, Garcia doubled to keep the inning alive and Jay plated him with a single. St. Louis went on to load the bases, but Allen Craig grounded out.
In the eighth, Daniel Descalso singled with one out and scored on Kozma's double down the right-field line. Later in the inning, Jay hit into a fielder's choice to score Kozma for a 4-0 lead.
Houston didn't get a man past second until the seventh inning when singles from Justin Maxwell and Laird left runners on the corners with one out. Chris Snyder, though, hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.
Mitchell Boggs got Brett Wallace to line into a double play to finish the eighth and Joe Kelly closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Game Notes
Overall, the Cardinals have won 11 of their 14 games with Houston this season ... St. Louis has nine shutouts this season while Houston has been blanked 14 times ... St. Louis went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position, but did strand 10 on base ... Houston went 0-for-5 with RISP and left five on base ... Harrell is 0-3 since his last win on Aug. 14 against the Cubs.
- ST. LOUIS: 4
HOUSTON: 0
Final
Sep 25 10:50 PM - Jon Jay's fielder's choice second to short scored Peter Kozma with two out. Bryan Anderson out at second. Runner on first and Matt Carpenter due up.
Cardinals 4, Astros 0 Top 8, 2 OutsSep 25 10:28 PM - Peter Kozma double to right scored Daniel Descalso with one out. Runner on second and Jaime Garcia due up.
Cardinals 3, Astros 0 Top 8, 1 OutSep 25 10:21 PM - Jon Jay single to center scored Jaime Garcia with two out. Runner on first and Matt Carpenter due up.
Cardinals 2, Astros 0 Top 2, 2 OutsSep 25 8:33 PM - Yadier Molina sacrifice fly out to right scored Jon Jay with two out. On the play, Matt Holliday advances to third. Runners on first and third and Carlos Beltran due up.
Cardinals 1, Astros 0 Top 1, 2 OutsSep 25 8:16 PM - ST. LOUIS: 0
HOUSTON: 0
Top 1, 0 Outs
Sep 25 8:06 PM
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