Erik Bedard pitched six effective innings and the Houston Astros used a four-run fourth inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Bedard (3-3) allowed seven hits and walked one, but limited St. Louis to three runs. Three relievers then combined to pitch two hitless innings before Jose Veras worked the ninth for his 16th save.
Veras yielded a one-out single to Jon Jay and then walked Matt Adams, but pinch hitter Daniel Descalso struck out and Matt Carpenter flied out to end the game.
Allen Craig homered for the second straight night and Yadier Molina had a two-run shot for the Cardinals, who lost for the fourth time in five games. They dropped into a tie with surging Pittsburgh for the lead in the NL Central.
Lance Lynn (10-2) allowed five hits and four runs, walked four and struck out four over 7 2-3 innings for his first loss in four career starts in Houston.
Molina and Craig helped the Cardinals get off to a nice start. Molina followed Carpenter’s leadoff single with a drive to the Crawford Boxes in left field for his sixth homer. Craig had a leadoff drive in the fourth that bounced off the lights atop the wall in left field, extending the lead to 3-0.
But Houston responded in the bottom half. Jose Altuve and Jason Castro got it started with back-to-back singles for the Astros’ first hits of the game. Lynn then walked Chris Carter on four pitches to load the bases before sending a run home when he also walked Carlos Pena on four pitches.
Castro came home when J.D. Martinez grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Brett Wallace then hit a tying RBI single. After another fielder’s choice, Brandon Barnes singled in Wallace to give Houston the lead for good.
The Astros threatened again in the fifth, putting two runners on with two out, but Lynn retired Martinez to end the inning. That was the first of eight straight batters retired by Lynn
Josh Fields retired the first two St. Louis batters in the seventh before left-hander Wesley Wright came in and struck out Carpenter.
Jose Cisnero faced the heart of the Cardinals’ order in the eighth. He got Molina on a groundout before walking Carlos Beltran. He then struck out Craig and Matt Holliday to finish the inning.
— Associated Press —