Brad Penny tossed seven solid innings and Albert Pujols drove in a run as the St. Louis Cardinals kept the Houston Astros winless following Wednesday’s 2-1 victory.
The loss dropped the Astros to 0-8 on the campaign. They are one defeat away from matching their worst start in team history, which came in 1983.
Penny (1-0), making his second start in a Cardinals uniform, gave up just the one run on three hits with four strikeouts and zero walks.
Ryan Franklin set the side down in order in the ninth to earn his third save.
All of the game’s scoring took place in the opening inning as Pedro Feliz’s single for the Astros made it 1-0.
The Cardinals knotted it up in the bottom half with an RBI single from Pujols, followed by the go-ahead run scoring on an error by shortstop Tommy Manzella two batters later.
Houston starter Brett Myers (0-1) went seven innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven batters.
Michael Bourne had a pair of hits to account for half of the Astros’ total.
Houston | St. Louis | |
Brett Myers | Player | Brad Penny |
Loss | W/L | Win |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
7 | Strikeouts | 4 |
4 | Hits | 3 |
1.29 | ERA | 0.00 |
Houston | St. Louis | |
Michael Bourn | Player | Felipe Lopez |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.667 | Avg | .667 |