Freese helps Cards crush Astros
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David Freese crushed a grand slam to cap a seven-run seventh inning and added a two-run homer in the ninth as the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Houston Astros, 14-2, in the finale of a three- game set at Minute Maid Park.
Rafael Furcal went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI, Carlos Beltran ripped a solo shot, had two RBI and scored twice, Shane Robinson crushed a two-run homer and Allen Craig added a pair of RBI for the Cardinals, who have won three of four since dropping five straight.
Lance Lynn (9-2) allowed two runs on six hits over six innings while striking out a career-high 11 batters to earn the win. With the victory, Lynn moves into a tie for the major league lead in wins with Mets hurler R. A. Dickey, who beat the Nationals on Thursday.
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"Lance was good. You could tell he felt really good today," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny about Lynn. "The ball was jumping out of his hand."
Jed Lowrie ripped a solo homer and Chris Johnson had an RBI double for the Astros, losers in 10 of their last 12 contests.
J. A. Happ (4-6) yielded four runs on five hits and five walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings to take the loss.
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Trailing 2-0 after two frames, St. Louis took the lead and control of the game in the third with three runs. Tyler Greene started the frame with a base hit up the middle and Robinson walked. After both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Lynn, Furcal reached on a bunt single to score Greene for the first run of the inning. Beltran brought in Robinson with a sac-fly and Craig drove in Furcal two batters later to make it 3-2.
"I felt real good coming out and then in that third I just made it harder than it needed to be," admitted Happ. "They did a good job of fouling a lot of pitches off and battled and I let a couple of guys go."
Beltran belted a one-out solo shot over the wall in left-center in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-2, and the Cards would add to their lead in each of their next two at-bats to put the game away for good.
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Robinson ripped a base hit up the middle and moved to second on a Lynn sacrifice in the sixth before scoring on a base hit by Furcal, and the Cards made it a laugher in the seventh, plating seven runs to take a 10-run lead.
Robinson started the rally by blasting a two-run shot into left. Furcal singled and Beltran and Matt Holliday walked to load the bases with two outs. Craig then ripped a base hit off Astros reliever Wesley Wright to score Furcal and Freese followed with the big blow of the game -- a moon shot grand slam to left -- to put St. Louis ahead 12-2.
Freese added his second homer of the game in the ninth with a two-run blast off of outfielder Brian Bogusevic to account for the final margin.
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Houston jumped on top in its first at-bat when Lowrie ripped a solo shot into the left field seats off Lynn for the first run of the game.
The Astros quickly extended their lead to 2-0 in the second when Brett Wallace belted a double down the right field line and scored on a double to right by Johnson.
Game Notes
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Prior to Thursday's game, the Cardinals placed pitcher Jaime Garcia on the 15- day disabled list and recalled pitcher Fernando Salas from Triple-A Memphis...Also on Thursday, the Astros reached contract agreements with No. 1 overall draft selection Carlos Correa and third-round pick Brady Rodgers...Bogusevic pitched the top of the ninth and allowed two runs on three hits...St. Louis went 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 14 on base.