Clearly there is no love lost between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros. Flaring tempers between the two briefly interrupted a dynamite game between the team’s two ace pitchers which was decided in the bottom of the 9th, with Skip Shumaker coming through big to give the Cards a 4-3 win this afternoon.
Adam Wainwright had an odd but solid day, getting the complete game win yet giving up 3 runs on 3 solo home runs. He allowed only 5 hits and struck out 6 on the day. With the game tied in the 9th, Wainwright was unable to advance Brian Barton with the bunt, reaching on a fielder’s choice, instead. Cesar Izturis, pinch running for Wainwright, reached 3rd on a Brendan Ryan single and scored on Skip Shumaker’s first hit of the game.
For the second straight game, no Cardinal hitters were able to collect multiple hits. The Cardinals early offense seemed to be fueled by an incident between Adam Wainwright and Astros catcher Brad Ausmus in the top of the 3rd. After Cardinals’ catcher Jason LaRue was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 2nd, Wainwright threw behind Ausmus, clearing the benches. The altercation never turned physical but the Cardinals responded in the bottom half of the inning as Albert Pujols started the scoring with a 2-run double and scored on a Troy Glaus sacrifice fly.
The 15-10 Cardinals will send Kyle Lohse (2-0, 2.54 ERA) to the mound tomorrow afternoon at 1:15pm (Central time) to face Astros rightly Brandon Backe (1-2, 4.45 ERA). If Backe is willing to pitch to Albert Pujols, the fans in the left field stands might want to bring their gloves. There is some history between the two and King Albert tends to come out on top in those types of situations. Then again, not many people have been willing to pitch to Pujols this year, so we will see.
