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Astros pay a visit to St. Louis

Jul 25, 2011 - 2:26 PM (Sports Network) - The top of the National League's Central Division faces the bottom tonight in St. Louis, where the first-place Cardinals host the last- place Houston Astros in the first of four games at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis enters as part of a three-way tie at the top of the six-team division, knotted up with both Pittsburgh and Milwaukee and three games ahead of defending champion Cincinnati.

Houston, meanwhile, brings up the rear of the division, the league and the majors as a while, with a 33-68 record that's 20 games in back of the three- pronged lead.

The Cardinals fell into the tie with an extra-inning loss on Sunday in Pittsburgh, where Chase d'Arnaud scored Xavier Paul with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th in the Pirates' 4-3 victory, allowing the hosts to avoid a three-game sweep.

Jason Motte (3-2) surrendered the final run.

Colby Rasmus went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two runs scored but the Cardinals couldn't extend their win streak to four games.

On Sunday in Chicago, Jeff Baker singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, as the Cubs downed the Astros, 5-4, to record their first three- game win streak and sweep of the season.

John Grabow (2-0) worked a scoreless top of the 10th, while David Carpenter (0-1) surrendered the decisive run to take the loss for the Astros, who had won two straight prior to their series with the Cubs.

Right-handed Missouri native Kyle McClellan gets the ball for St. Louis with a chance to end a skid that's kept him winless since May 19.

The 27-year-old is 0-5 in eight appearances since that win, which came when he went five innings and gave up two runs to defeat the Astros, 4-2.

McClellan is 2-2 with two saves and four holds in 19 career meetings with Houston - two starts.

The Cardinals have lost the last seven games he's started, though they've scored just 12 runs in that stretch and been shut out twice.

For Houston, lefty J.A. Happ returns for the first time since ending a drought of his own.

The former Philadelphia Phillies draft pick - third round, 2004 - was 0-7 in 10 starts after a 7-3 defeat of the New York Mets on May 14, in which he allowed two runs in six innings.

He finally broke through to beat Washington, 7-6, on July 19 after giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Happ lost a 9-2 verdict to the Cardinals as part of the losing streak on June 9 and is just 1-5 lifetime against them in seven starts with a 5.82 earned run average.

St. Louis has won six of its eight matchups with the Astros this season.