Matt Holliday had an RBI single and Mark DeRosa a two run double in a three run first inning off Roy Oswalt and for the second game in a row, the first inning runs hold up. Cardinals beat the Astros 3-2.
Joel Pineiro had another solid performance. He picked up his 13th win going 8 innings allowing two runs. I’ve talked a lot about Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, but Pineior has quietly put together a solid season. Pineiro has won his last seven decisions. He hasn’t lost since June 28 th and the Cardinals have won his last ten starts. In fact, he hasn’t lost to a NL team since early June.
So much has been made about the acquistions of Holliday and DeRosa and the starting pitching, but four of their last eight wins have been one run games and Ryan Franklin has closed them all. His ERA is 1.07 and he has 34 saves this year, doubling his total from last year when he also blew 8 saves.
While the Cardinals have gotten the good starting pitching like they did last year and added a couple of more bats, when you get right down to it, the ninth inning has been the key to this year.