The St. Louis Cardinals earned a split of their two-game series with Houston by blasting the Astros 10-2 yesterday. Righthander Dustin Hermanson (8-8) allowed just the two runs on four hits in seven innings of work to earn the win. Hermanson struck out nine to tie his career-high. At the plate, Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols went deep to power the Cardinals attack. St. Louis remains 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs with the win. The Cardinals and Cubs will open a four-game set in Chicago this afternoon.
