The St. Louis Cardinals closed to within 3 1/2 games of the National League Central lead on Wednesday with a 5-1 win over the front-running Houston Astros. The Cardinals also maintain a three-game lead in the wild card race with the win. Mark McGwire homered twice to lead the offensive attack in the win. Darryl Kile (15-10) pitched seven shutout innings to earn the win for St. Louis. He struck out ten.