There was a particular pitch Jose Altuve was looking for after studying Kyle Lohse in preparation for Friday night’s game.

When he saw that 90 mph, sinker barreling his way, he knew just what to do with it.

Altuve put the Houston Astros on top with a three-run homer in the second inning and they held on for a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I went out today with a plan and I was expecting that pitch,” he said. “He threw it and I hit it really good.”

The win is the fourth straight for the Astros and the second consecutive loss for the National League Central-leading Cardinals.

The game was tied at 2-2 before Altuve’s shot, which a fan in the top row of the Crawford Boxes in left field caught, to give Houston a 5-2 lead.

“He has a nice short swing, and he’s not missing too many pitches that catch too much of the plate, and he did it again tonight,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.

It was another good night for Altuve, who is among the top batters in the NL with a .360 average this season and whose 14 multi-hit games lead the NL.

It is the fifth straight game where the Astros have had at least one homer, which is their longest streak since also homering in five in row from last May 29 to June 2.

Houston starter Lucas Harrell (2-2) gave up seven hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Closer Brett Myers allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his seventh save after three other relievers combined to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

Lohse (4-1), who started the season 4-0 for the first time in his career, had his worst outing of the season. He allowed seven hits and five runs — both season highs — in a season-low five innings. Three of his runs were earned the others came because of two errors by the Cardinals.

“He had trouble getting the ball down,” Matheny said. “He got balls in the air. This was a day that he just didn’t have that down bite. When he is up in the zone, it is going to be a tough day for him.”

Lohse was unable to build on the success he had last season against the Astros when he was 2-0.

Jordan Schafer reached in the first inning on a fielding error by Matt Carpenter. Altuve followed with a single and the pair advanced on a double steal. A single by Carlos Lee scored Schafer before Jed Lowrie’s single sent Altuve home to make it 2-1.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first after Rafael Furcal singled and scored when Allen Craig reached on an error by Chris Johnson with two outs.

The miscues continued in the bottom of the second when Schafer reached on an error by Craig, the first baseman, after a single by Harrell. That set up Altuve’s home run.

Carpenter walked with one out in the second inning and later scored on a balk by Harrell to tie it at 2-2.

Jon Jay singled and scored on a triple by Matt Holliday that landed near the bullpen in right center to get St. Louis within 5-3 in the third inning. Harrell was a bit shaken up after landing hard on his chest after diving to try and grab the hit by Jay. He was looked at by trainers and remained in the game.

Holliday scored on a sacrifice fly by Craig to cut the lead to 5-4.

“I thought I was good at the beginning of the game and then the balk really hurt me,” Harrell said. “Then in the third when the wind got knocked out of me, I didn’t take enough time and when I got back up on the mound I kind of rushed and I should have taken a little bit more time.”

The Astros had a chance to add to their lead in the seventh inning after Brian Bogusevic walked after a two-out double by Lowrie. But Johnson grounded out to end the threat.

Yadier Molina singled in the sixth inning before a walk by Skip Schumaker with one out chased Harrell. He was replaced by Wesley Wright, who retired the next two batters to escape the jam.

Schafer walked with two outs in the eighth inning. He has reached base safely in each of the 25 games he’s played this season — tying the longest streak to start a season in franchise history. Denis Menke also reached the mark for the Astros in 1969.

He stole second base for his 11th steal of the season before a fly out by Altuve ended the inning.

— Associated Press —

Trying to explain his 3 for 32 slump earlier in the day, Carlos Beltran said he just hadn’t been seeing the ball very well lately. But the St. Louis Cardinals cleanup hitter added several times, it was nothing to worry about.

Beltran said bye-bye to the bad times in a big way, driving in a career-best seven runs with a pair of three-run home runs and RBI single in the first three innings, leading the way as the Cardinals punished A.J. Burnett and the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-3 on Tuesday night.

“Lately, God knows, I’ve been searching at the plate, trying to find my swing, trying to feel comfortable, trying to be able to go out there and have quality at-bats,” Beltran said. “This game can be like this. It’s a funny game. You have to stay positive.”

Manager Mike Matheny found it somewhat humorous after so much pre-game attention was devoted to discussing Beltran’s tailspin.

“I think the one person that wasn’t even beginning to panic was Carlos,” Matheny said. “He just knows what he’s doing. It was nice to see him have a huge day like that.”

Matheny had been set to give Beltran a day off on Thursday and wasn’t sure whether the big day changed anything.

Rookie Lance Lynn (5-0) joined James Shields as the major leagues’ only five-game winners, allowing three hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts to beat the Pirates for the second time in three starts. Lynn has a 1.60 ERA as the replacement starter for Chris Carpenter, sidelined indefinitely with nerve issues in his right shoulder.

“It means we have five wins when I’m pitching, so that’s good,” Lynn said. “That’s all I’m trying to do is help us win when I’m out there. I’m off to a good start and the team’s really been carrying me.”

Burnett (1-2) entered with a 1.38 ERA, and worked seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals for his lone victory on April 21 at home, but trailed 4-0 after six pitches. The right-hander surrendered 12 runs on 12 hits in 2 2/3 innings, as the Pirates tried to save their bullpen.

“I stunk,” Burnett said. “There is nothing more I can say. I was up all night, I couldn’t get anything down. It doesn’t matter who you pitch against, if you get your pitches up you’re going to get hammered.”

The runs allowed topped Burnett’s previous worst of nine on four occasions, the last time Aug. 26, 2011 at Baltimore. He allowed 12 or more hits for the seventh time, exiting one shy of his career worst Aug. 3, 2011 at the Chicago White Sox.

Pirates catcher Rod Barajas was ejected for complaining about home plate umpire Angel Campos’ calls in the second inning, tossing his mask in disgust after a pitch called a ball for a 1-2 count against Beltran. Manager Clint Hurdle was subsequently tossed for defending his player, his first of the season and sixth in his second season with Pittsburgh.

“Things just kind of got a little heated,” Barajas said. “I felt one way, he felt the other way. You get a little frustrated when things don’t go the way you think they should.”

Hurdle said he was frustrated because “We’ve had some disagreements for two days out there. Rod was out there trying to protect his pitcher, making sure we got a fair shake.”

Beltran had one double among his three hits and three RBIs the last nine games, a slump that started three games after he was moved to cleanup. He said after batting practice that he hadn’t been seeing the ball well but several times expressed confidence it would be over soon, then turned it around with his first swing, a three-run shot to right that made it 4-0.

“When I hit the first one out, it was a changeup, I was able to stay on that pitch and drive it out of the ballpark,” Beltran said. “It’s always a good feeling knowing that you’re staying back, you’re seeing the ball well.

“After that i was able to feed off that.”

Beltran had an RBI single in the second before launching another three-run homer in the third that made it 12-1, a drive to left center for Beltran’s team-leading seventh homer after a replay overturned the initial umpire ruling and justified fireworks and a sign in the shape of a truck grill that blinked its headlights even though Beltran initially had to put the brakes on at second base.

Beltran topped his previous RBI high of six and he added a broken-bat single in the fifth to match a career best with his 21st four-hit game.

The top four in the lineup — Rafael Furcal, Jon Jay, Matt Holliday and Beltran — were a combined 9 for 9 with two homers, 10 RBIs and seven runs the first three innings. Jay had three hits and was hit by a pitch his first four trips and is batting .429 with an 11-game hitting streak.

Furcal singled twice with a steal and sacrifice fly, Holliday had two hits, a walk and an RBI and the Cardinals got triples from Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter, who had three hits.

The Cardinals have outscored the Pirates 22-10 the first two games. It was the most lopsided loss for Pittsburgh since a 15-1 whipping at Los Angeles Sept. 18.

The NL Central leaders have won five of six and will go for a three-game sweep Thursday with Jake Westbrook (3-1) opposing Erik Bedard (1-4). The Cardinals have outscored their opponents by 65 runs, best in the majors, after 24 games.

— Associated Press —

John Axford’s 48th consecutive save was a strange one. The game ended with a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out — at the plate.

The St. Louis Cardinals had runners on first and third with none out in the ninth inning but came up empty against the Milwaukee Brewers’ closer.

Axford got a big assist from his fielders, who foiled a double steal while finishing a 3-2 victory Sunday that avoided a three-game sweep.

“I guess it was a best-case scenario,” Axford said. “Luckily, it just kind of worked out.”

Matt Holliday walked to start the ninth and pinch runner Tyler Greene went to third on a single by Carlos Beltran before Axford, who passed Brad Lidge for the fourth-longest streak in major league history, shut the door.

After Axford struck out David Freese on a full count, the Cardinals tried to steal a run when Yadier Molina struck out on a high delivery, with Beltran breaking for second and Greene ready to head home if there was a throw.

When catcher Jonathan Lucroy double-pumped on his throw to second it threw off Greene’s timing. Beltran, meanwhile, stopped early because he thought he’d be a certain out, leaving Greene an easy out on a relay from shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

“I don’t know what they were doing or what was going on, but it ended up working out for us,” Lucroy said. “It was a weird play.”

Greene didn’t come close to touching the bag on a hook slide.

“Beltran was stealing and if he threw down I was going to try to take off for home,” Greene said. “He almost pump-faked, so that kind of changed things a little bit.”

It was the final failure in the clutch for the Cardinals, who were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 runners.

“I’ll just say that that play didn’t go as planned,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Zack Greinke worked six strong innings and Lucroy’s two-run double capped a three-run sixth for the Brewers.

Greinke (3-1) allowed a run on seven hits to help stop the Brewers’ six-game road losing streak. He’s 2-1 with a 2.11 ERA in four career games in St. Louis. He pitched a lot better than in his only other road start this year, when he surrendered eight runs in 3 2/3 innings at Chicago on April 12.

The Cardinals had at least two baserunners in four of Greinke’s innings, but the right-hander got the big outs.

“That’s not really the way Zack pitches but I thought he battled great,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “I don’t know if he’s trying to be perfect at times, but sometimes that gets him in trouble.”

Jaime Garcia (2-1) fell to 17-10 at home with a 2.38 ERA and all three of his shutouts, and 12-7 with 4.15 ERA on the road.

Axford is 5 for 5 this year and last blew a save on April 18, 2011, at Philadelphia. He’s well aware of the streak.

“It’s nice to do 48,” Axford said. “The streak is great, it’s great individually, but it’s more on the team side. Obviously, if I don’t get the save we’re not going to get the win so I’d rather lock it down and get the win for the team.”

St. Louis missed a chance to make it 2-0 in the fifth when, with one out, Garcia broke for home from third on Holliday’s routine flyout to medium center, a certain sacrifice fly if he’d have tagged up.

“Yeah, that was terrible baserunning,” Garcia said. “It’s the first time it’s ever happened to me. I’ll learn from that.”

The Brewers took the lead with a four-hit, three-run sixth. Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single to tie it and Lucroy, who had been 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position on the year, made it a two-run cushion with a drive off the left-field wall.

Lucroy thought the Cardinals were going to walk him so Garcia could face Travis Ishikawa in a lefty-lefty matchup, especially after Molina visited the mound.

“That’s what I would do, too,” Lucroy said. “He just made a mistake.”

Matheny showed faith in Garcia when he pulled back a pinch hitter with two outs and one on in the sixth, and Garcia singled for the second straight at-bat. Rafael Furcal flied out to end the threat.

Garcia had a season-high six strikeouts in seven innings, his third straight start of seven innings or more.

Kameron Loe got Molina, who had six straight hits after singling in the second and had been 7 for 11 in the series, on a groundout with two on to end the seventh. The Cardinals cut the gap to a run when Matt Carpenter doubled off Francisco Rodriguez to start the eighth and scored on pinch hitter Daniel Descalso’s groundout.

— Associated Press —