Even though he has struggled a bit to start the year, the Cardinals knew they would have to bring their A-games against Astros ace Roy Oswalt and they did just that in a 3-2 victory to seal the series win last night.
Starter Kyle Lohse pitched a phenomenal game, completely shutting the Astros down through 6 innings and allowing only a solo home run by Carlos Lee in the 7th. The Cardinal offense was able to jump on Oswalt early before he settled into a rhythm. Albert Pujols singled with 2 outs in the 1st before Oswalt walked Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus to load the bases. Duncan, who has struggled all year, came through with the 2-out, 2-run single to put the Cards up. In the 6th inning Pujols continued to punish the Astros pitching staff for everything that has ever gone wrong in his life, hitting a solo homer off Oswalt to put St. Louis up for good.
The Cards will open up a series against the Pirates tonight at 7:15pm (Central time), sending Todd Wellemeyer (5-1, 3.36 ERA) to the hill against Pittsburgh lefty Zach Duke (2-3, 4.55 ERA).
