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Cards sweep Astros to end Home stand
The Redbirds ended their first home stand of the season by taking 3 straight from Houston in dominant fashion. After splitting 4 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates to open the season, the Cardinals welcomed the Houston Astros to town in a series that included a 7 RBI day from Albert Pujols and a 3 hit CG Shutout from Kyle Lohse.
Joel Pineiro started his first game of the season to open the series Friday against Mike Hampton. He was sharp in his debut issuing just one walk and allowing only 2 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. Ryan Ludwick homered off of Doug Brocail in the 7 th to make it 5-2 and Kyle McClellan earned his first save of the season in a 5-3 victory.
Game 2 of the series featured a matchup between aces as Adam Wainwright and Roy Oswalt squared off. Oswalt could not continue his success against the Cardinals, Saturday, in part to a grand slam off the bat of Albert Pujols in the 5 th helping bust the game open to a 6-0 lead. He followed up his 5 th inning blast into Big Mac Land with a 3 run shot off of Wesley Wright in the 7 th, part of 7 consecutive base hits allowed by Wright. Jason Motte got in an inning of work allowing only one hit and the Cardinals would cruise to an 11-2 victory.
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The Cards would go for the sweep at Busch asking Kyle Lohse to outduel Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. Lohse did just that allowing just 3 hits to opposing batters throwing all 9 innings in a 3-0 shutout. Khalil Greene did most of the Cardinals damage offensively going 3-4 with an RBI and a Run. Lohse won his 2 nd game in as many starts and moved his ERA to 1.13.
Series Preview: St. Louis Cardinals (5-2) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (2-4)
St. Louis will head on the road for this first time of the season as Todd Wellemeyer (0-1) looks for his first win of the early season against Doug Davis (0-1). Chris Carpenter (1-0) will head back to the mound in game 2 after a dazzling start to open his 2009 campaign against the Pirates. Max Scherzer will get his first start of the season coming off of shoulder problems. Joel Pineiro (1-0) will get the ball against Jon Garland (1-0) to cap off the series at Chase Field.
By Zack Estes
St. Louis Cardinals Correspondent
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