The losing continues for Matt Morris, despite a commendable performance. The Cardinals’ starter dropped his fifth straight decision as St. Louis fell to Houston 3-1 on Tuesday, despite allowing just two runs.
Morris had two outs in the top of the sixth when Mike Lamb reached on a single. Jason Lane followed up with a two-run homer to break a scoreless tie. St. Louis responded with an RBI double from Reggie Sanders in the bottom half of the inning, but that’s all the Cardinals were able to muster on offense.
Morris hasn’t won since August 25 and is now 14-10 on the season.
Jason Marquis pitched two innings of relief and allowed the other Houston run, when he served up a solo home run to Craig Biggio in the eighth inning.
Roy Oswalt lasted seven innings and scattered eight hits to earn his 19th win of the season. Brad Lidge got his 39th save in two innings of work. Houston extended their lead in the National League Wildcard race to 2.5 games over Philadelphia.