Bullpen Blows Cards’ Lead

The St. Louis Cardinals gave up three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, and ended up losing to Houston 7-6 in 12 innings. Cardinals manager Tony Larussa failed to use closer Jason Isringhausen in the 9th, even though Isringhausen had not pitched Saturday. Larussa had Isringhausen warm up three separate times Saturday, for several minutes each time, leaving him unavailable to pitch with the game on the line. Instead, Mike Timlin gave up three runs to allow the Astros to tie it. In the 12th inning, Daryle Ward homered off Luther Hackman to give the Astros the win. The Cardinals still managed to win 2 of 3 games at Astros Field over the weekend.