Cardinals 4 - 0 Astros
Final
  for this game

Cardinals blank Astros

Sep 26, 2012 - 6:53 AM

Video

Houston, TX (Sports Network) - Jaime Garcia pitched seven shutout innings and Jon Jay drove in a pair of runs as the St. Louis Cardinals downed the Houston Astros, 4-0, in the second of three games.

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.






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