Sanchez: Tommy who?
(c) Associated Press
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Tony LaRussa may have lost the game Tuesday night, but he has found a closer. Infielder Aaron Miles quieted the Houston bats in the ninth inning, which was more than his teammates who are paid to pitch for St. Louis were able to accomplish as the suddenly powerhouse Astros spanked the Redbirds, 18-4, to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Bud Norris continued his mastery of the Cardinals (5-1 career mark) but in a different way than past efforts. He gave up four runs, including solo shots from Colby Rasmus and Matt Holliday, but coasted to victory nonetheless.
An error by Miles and a two-out single by Norris off former Rookie of the Year candidate Jaime Garcia opened the floodgates for a five-run second inning, capped with a two-run double by rookie shortstop Angel Sanchez. St. Louis crept within three runs until the sixth when Sanchez popped a bases-loaded triple off Mitchell Boggs and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Hunter Pence to give the Astros a 10-3 lead.
Neither the Astros nor Sanchez were finished as they piled it on against Dennys Reyes and Mike MacDougal for a pair of four-run outbursts in the seventh and eighth. By the time the bats were done, the Astros had amassed 18 runs and 22 hits without the benefit of a homer. Sanchez had four hits and six RBIs. Carlos Lee and Pedro Feliz had three runs each. Chris Johnson drove in three. Jason Bourgeois had a triple and two RBIs. Geoff Blum, fresh off the disabled list, had two hits and Chris Wallace added a pinch-hit RBI. It was a fun night for everyone in a road uniform at Busch.
During the win streak, the normally meek Astros have slammed their division foes by the cumulative score of 57-12. Less runs are to be expected Wednesday night when All-Star Chris Carpenter (11-3) goes for St. Louis against lefty J.A. Happ (1-0) in another 7:15 Central kickoff. Will the WINS-day streak reach 13 while the conventional win streak reaches eight? Or will the string run out for both? Stay tuned.
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