A day after being eliminated from the pennant race, the St. Louis Cardinals hammered out 20 hits en route to a 7-4 win over the Houston Astros Saturday night at Busch Stadium.
David Eckstein, Rick Ankiel, and Ryan Ludwick each had 3 hits. One of Ankiel’s hits was a 2-run homer, his 10 th home run of the season. 2-hit games were had by Skip Schumaker, Miguel Cairo, and Aaron Miles. Hunter Pence hit his 15 th home run of the year – a 3-run shot – in the 9 th inning to narrow make the give the Cards a bit of a scare.
St. Louis starter Brad Thompson (7-6) pitched 6 innings for the win, allowing only 1 earned run on 4 hits. Jason Isringhausen tossed 1/3 of an inning to pick up his 30 th save. Matt Albers (4-10) gave up just 2 earned runs on 11 hits in 6 innings to take the loss.
The Cards (72-82) and Astros (68-87) play the final game of the season in St. Louis on Sunday night. Todd Wellemeyer (3-3) takes the mound for the Redbirds against Houston’s Roy Oswalt (14-7).