For the second night in a row, Carlos Lee’s home run proved to be the dagger in the hearts of the Cardinals.  His grand slam off relief pitcher P.J. Walters followed by Geoff Blum’s solo shot helped give Houston a 11-6 win to move to within two games of the Cardinals.

Todd Wellemeyer, hoping to get off to a better second half of the season, couldn’t get through the fifth inning as he exited allowing five runs, (four earned) on seven hits including a two run homer by Hunter Pence.

Meanwhile, Astros’ starter Wandy Rodriquez held the Cardinals to just four hits in seven innings.  The only blemish against Wandy was a solo home run from Mark DeRosa.  It was good to see DeRo it two homers as he hit a solo shot in the eighth inning when St. Louis negated Houston’s five run seventh.  It appears any wrists issues with DeRosa are behind him.

Chad Poronto made his season debut for Houston and lasted just a third of an inning giving up four runs.  His ERA is 108 as he gave up a two run homer to Ryan Ludwick who has 16 on the year.  Ludwick is hitting .381 with five homers and 23 RBI in the month of July.  His most productive month.

With Houston’s win and Milwaukee beating Pittsburgh, they’ve closed to within two games of the Cardinals and are tied with Chicago for second place in the NL Central.