The Houston Astros fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 Saturday night at Daikin Park, dropping the second game of a three-game series and ceding the series with one game to play.
Lance McCullers Jr. could not escape the first inning cleanly. He hit JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera with consecutive pitches, and after Alec Burleson flew out, walked Jordan Walker to load the bases. Nolan Gorman singled to right, scoring two, with a Cam Smith fielding error allowing Gorman to reach second. The Cardinals led 2-0 before Houston had taken a swing.
Yordan Alvarez answered immediately. Leading off the bottom of the first, he drove a pitch from Andre Pallante into center field for his ninth home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 2-1. It was as close as Houston would get.
McCullers ran into trouble again in the third. Gorman singled and Masyn Winn followed with a two-run homer to left, pushing the Cardinals’ lead to 4-1. McCullers worked out of trouble in the fourth and fifth without allowing a run before giving way to Colton Gordon to start the sixth. He finished with four runs allowed over five innings.
The Astros had chances but could not convert. Alvarez doubled in the third with Correa drawing a walk behind him, but Walker and Paredes could not bring them home. Houston finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Gordon allowed a solo home run to José Fermín in the sixth to make it 5-1, then surrendered a run on a wild pitch in the eighth that pushed the deficit to 7-1. By then, the game appeared well out of reach.
It almost wasn’t. With two outs in the ninth and the Astros trailing 7-2, Cam Smith and Christian Vázquez drew back-to-back walks against George Soriano. Shay Whitcomb drove the first pitch he saw into center field for a three-run homer, pulling Houston within 7-5. But Jose Altuve grounded out and Yordan Alvarez struck out to end it.
The loss drops the Astros to 8-14. Houston will send Mike Burrows to the mound Sunday afternoon in the series finale, looking to avoid a sweep.
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