Houston @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 3, 2010 ) Houston 18, St. Louis 4
The Houston Astros have already swept a three-game series in St. Louis this season.
Only Cardinals ace right-hander Chris Carpenter stands in the way of Houston doing it again.
The surging Astros look for their eight consecutive victory and a series sweep against the shaken Cardinals on Wednesday night.
Carpenter (11-3) will have to live up to his role as stopper and then some to slow down a juggernaut offense that has bludgeoned St. Louis’ pitching staff in the first two games of the series.
Rookie shortstop Angel Sanchez was the unlikely catalyst in Tuesday night’s 18-4 romp, collecting four hits and driving in a career-high six runs to spark the Astros to their fifth consecutive win at Busch Stadium.
Houston scored as many runs against left-hander Jaime Garcia in the second inning than the rookie has allowed in a game all season – and then beat up on the beleaguered Cardinals bullpen for a second successive night.
One night after scoring seven runs in the final two innings for a 9-4 victory in the series opener, the Astros scored four runs in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to punctuate the 18-4 beating.
Things got so bad for Cardinals manager Tony La Russa that he sent inserted infielder Aaron Miles to pitch the ninth inning. Miles, whose throwing error led to the five-run second inning, was the only St. Louis pitcher not to allow a run.
That was one of the few positives for the Cardinals, along with the fact that Cincinnati also lost, allowing St. Louis to stay within a half-game of first place in the National League Central.
During the seven-game streak, Houston has outscored the opposition 57-12, including 27-8 in this series.
The Astros unleashed a season-high 22-hit attack in Tuesday’s game, including three hits apiece by Carlos Lee and Pedro Feliz.
With St. Louis’ bullpen in tatters, the Cardinals are desperate for a quality outing from Carpenter, who has pitched eight innings in three of his last four starts.
The 35-year-old right-hander is 6-4 lifetime against the Astros with five complete games and a pair of shutouts. He threw eight scoreless innings against Pittsburgh his last time out but got a no-decision in St. Louis’ 1-0 victory.
Carpenter lost his only start against Houston earlier in the season, allowing four runs and eight hits in eight innings of a 4-1 loss that concluded a three-game sweep by the Astros.
Left-hander J.A. Happ makes his second start for the Astros since being acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the trade for Roy Oswalt.
Happ allowed two hits in six scoreless innings in a 5-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. It was only his fourth start of the season after a forearm strain put him on the shelf for more than two months.
As a rookie last season, Happ was 0-1 in two starts against the Cardinals, surrendering seven runs and 15 hits in 12 1/3 innings.