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Lohse, Pujols lift Cardinals over Astros

May 30, 2008 - 3:34 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Kyle Lohse threw six-plus solid innings and Albert Pujols homered as the St. Louis Cardinals held off the Houston Astros, 3-2, on Thursday.

Chris Duncan had a two-run single in the first and Pujols added a solo homer - his 13th of the season - in the sixth to lead the Cardinals to their eighth win in 11 games.

One night after being shut down by Adam Wainwright in a 6-1 loss, the Astros again struggled against Lohse and the Cardinals' bullpen.

Lohse (5-2) outdueled Roy Oswalt, as he retired 10 of 12 hitters before allowing a leadoff home run by Carlos Lee in the seventh and a single by Hunter Pence.

"It was one of those nights where the result was good," Lohse said.

"I didn't feel like I had my best stuff out there, but I made pitches when I had to and got through it. They have a lot of power and you don't want to make a mistake. Even though I didn't have great location, I wasn't allowing myself to miss back over the middle of the plate."

Kyle McClellan relieved Lohse and retired the side, and Ron Villone combined with Chris Perez to work the eighth.

Ryan Franklin made things interesting as he allowed a leadoff blast by Lance Berkman in the ninth. But the righthander rebounded to record his fourth save of the season.

"My thought coming out of the bullpen was we have a two-run lead and Berkman is a great hitter, but there is no way he can hit a three-run homer," Franklin said.

"So what if he hits a home run, I'm not going to pitch around him. I'm going to go after him, but obviously it was a bad pitch. I just didn't have my focus on that pitch."

Oswalt (4-5), who is suffering through the worst season of his eight-year career, allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings. The righthander struck out two and walked two.

St. Louis got to Oswalt early but mustered little else the rest of the way.

The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first, when Pujols kept alive the inning with a two-out single. Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus each drew a walk before Duncan laced a two-run single to right.

Pujols led off the seventh with solo shot, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

"We faced one of the best pitchers in the league and we took advantage of that today," Pujols said. "Our bullpen did a great job today and our starting pitcher too. We didn't do that much damage, but we got enough to get Oswalt. He's amazing. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great competitor."

"I lost a little bit of command trying to be too fine after Pujols got the hit," Oswalt said. "I didn't want to give up some runs in the first. Then I end up walking two guys and it came back and bit me."

Houston has dropped eight of the last 11 meetings between the teams.

"That's why we don't win here, because we don't score," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "With the old adage, good pitching stops good hitting. Roy pitched fine. He just kind of lost it there for a couple hitters."