The Houston Astros recorded 22 hits in an 18-4 beating of the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday at Busch Stadium.

Colby Rasmus opened the scoring for St. Louis with a solo home run in the first, but Houston roared answered back with a crooked number in the second.

Carlos Lee and Jeff Keppinger lead off the frame with singles off St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia (9-5). Pedro Feliz followed with a ground ball to third, but Aaron Miles’ throwing error allowed Lee to score and the inning to continue without any outs.

The error came back to haunt St. Louis as after a Chris Johnson sacrifice fly, Jason Castro grounded out, which should have ended the inning. Instead Garcia gave up a two-out single to Houston pitcher Bud Norris, followed by an RBI double from Jason Bourgeois and then Angel Sanchez capped the inning with a two-run double of his own to give the Astros a 5-1 lead.

Feliz added an RBI single the following inning to extend the lead to 6-1.

St. Louis tried to claw back into the game when consecutive RBI singles in the fourth from Allen Craig and Skip Schumaker cut the lead to 6-3, but Houston put the game away for good in the sixth.

Sanchez knocked a bases-loaded triple and Hunter Pence brought him in on a sacrifice fly to make it 10-3.

Sanchez finished the game 4-for-6 with six RBIs and finished a home run short of the cycle.

The Astros scored four more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to make the game a laugher as they won their season-high seventh consecutive game.

Garcia only lasted five innings for the Cardinals, allowing eight runs – four earned – on 10 hits while striking out three.

Houston’s starter Norris got the victory, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings. Norris (4-7) struck out six.