Wandy Rodriguez’s pitching helps Houston Astros defeat St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 – MLB Update
Houston Astros’ starter, Wandy Rodriguez had a notable day with the ball as he gave just one walk and one earned run with an ERA of 3.47 in the Astros’ 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, St. Louis on July 28.
Astros led off with 1-0 during the first inning when Jose Altuve hit a sacrifice bunt towards centre-field and Michael Bourn added a single run. On the other side, the Cardinals’ batters broke their silence in the second inning by contributing two runs to
go-ahead 2-1. Gerald Laird scored a single run on the drive of Corey Patterson towards right-field while the second run was taken by Ryan Theriot as Patterson moved to second base on a throwing error.
In the third inning, the Cardinals took their lead 3-1 when Albert Pujols hit a double-run shot towards right-field and Jon Jay added a single run on the score-board. But the game was tied 3-3 during the fourth inning when the Astros’ batters exploded two
runs. Carlos Lee singled to left-field and Hunter Pence posted one run. Lee scored the second and tie run for the Astros when Chris Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to left-field.
Astros went ahead 4-3 in the fifth inning when Jason Bourgeois hit a ground rule double towards left-field and Rodriguez scored a leading run. At the top of the sixth inning, the Astros got a 5-3 lead by adding one run to their score-card. Lee struck a solo
homer (391 feet) towards left-field to lift the momentum of the Astros.
The last three innings were empty as the batters only got out without adding runs on the score-board. In the eighth inning, the Cardinals’ batters missed some runs as Skip Schumaker and Daniel Descalso both were grounded out to short-stop position and Jay
struck-out swinging.
Lee expressed his excitement and said, “I'm feeling pretty good. We're finally coming through at the plate.”
Rodriguez said, “The first two or three innings, I didn't feel very comfortable on the mound. Then I started to focus. When I focus on my game, I know what can happen.”
Bourn walked during the ninth inning, but Brett Wallace lined out to second base and Altuve flied out to right-field. As a result, the Astros ended the four-game series 2-2 after having a credible victory.
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