Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
Temperature: 94°
Umpires: Home - Eric Cooper, 1B - Mike Reilly, 2B - Bill Miller, 3B - Todd Tichenor
Attendance: 41596
Albert Pujols finished with three hits, including a three-run homer, to back a strong showing from Chris Carpenter in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 8-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Felipe Lopez, Matt Holliday, Allen Craig and Carpenter each recorded an RBI as St. Louis avoided being swept by the last-place Astros and stopped a five-game slide against their division-rivals.
Carpenter (12-3) worked 7 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on four hits in winning his third straight decision.
Chris Johnson lifted a two-run homer and Jason Castro and Geoff Blum drove in runs for Houston, which plated 18 runs in Tuesday’s triumph.
St. Louis exploded for four runs on four run-scoring singles in the first inning at the expense of J.A. Happ. Pujols’ blast in the second pushed the lead to 7-2.
Happ (2-1) took the loss in his second start since being acquired from Philadelphia, allowing seven runs and six hits in one inning of work.
| Houston | St. Louis | |
| J.A. Happ | Player | Chris Carpenter |
| Loss | W/L | Win |
| 1.0 | IP | 7.1 |
| 1 | Strikeouts | 3 |
| 6 | Hits | 4 |
| 63.00 | ERA | 2.45 |
| Houston | St. Louis | |
| Geoff Blum | Player | Albert Pujols |
| 1 | Hits | 3 |
| 1 | RBI | 3 |
| 0 | HR | 1 |
| 1 | TB | 7 |
| 1.000 | Avg | .600 |