Astros continue series with rival Cards at Busch

Baseball Betting Lines

05/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While Houston's Wandy Rodriguez will try to bounce back from his shortest outing of the season tonight, St. Louis' Kyle Lohse will again be aiming for his first victory of 2010 as the Astros and Cardinals continue a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

The left-handed Rodriguez has lost back-to-back starts and he lasted just 3 2/3 innings versus the Diamondbacks on Thursday. He gave up five runs on nine hits and has allowed 10 runs (seven earned) and 19 hits over his two-start slide.

"It just looked like there were some pitches left out over the plate," said Astros manager Brad Mills. "One of Wandy's big assets is he's able to use both sides of the plate with command of his fastball and then change speeds with his offspeed stuff. It just looked like he got too much of the plate."

Rodriguez fell to 1-4 with a 4.59 earned run average on the season and tonight he will be looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Cardinals, who hit him for four runs over 4 1/3 innings back on April 12. The 31-year-old fell to 3-10 with a 4.17 ERA lifetime versus St. Louis with the setback.

Meanwhile, Lohse comes in with an 0-2 mark and 5.45 ERA on the season. He has lost four straight decisions dating back to last year and hasn't won since Sept. 21, a span of eight starts without a win.

The 31-year-old righty lost to the Phillies on Thursday, allowing five runs, three of those earned, on nine hits over just four innings. Lohse also suffered a setback to the Astros on April 15, a victory by the Astros that halted their season-opening eight-game slide. Lohse did pitch well, allowing two runs over seven innings, but still fell to 6-6 with a 2.95 ERA versus Houston.

The Astros were able to take the opener of this contest 6-3 on Tuesday thanks to four unearned runs in the seventh inning. Trailing 2-0, Carlos Lee reached first base on an error and Houston eventually loaded the bases to set up the big inning.

Tommy Manzella started things off with a sac fly that plated Lee and back-to- back pinch-hit singles by Cory Sullivan and Humberto Quintero led to two more runs. Michael Bourn then capped the frame with a run-scoring bung single and Lance Berkman and Hunter Pence hit solo homers in the eighth inning.

Brett Myers earned the win after he allowed two runs on eight hits over six innings for the Astros, who won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game win streak from April 23-25. Houston had lost three straight and 11 of 12 prior to this win streak.

"A lot of guys contributed and it's nice to see," said Astros manager Brad Mills. "That's what makes good clubs. Everybody did a good job tonight."

Bourn was in the lineup after appealing his two-game suspension that was issued earlier on Tuesday. The speedy outfielder earned the ban after making contact with umpire Alfonso Marquez on Saturday.

Ryan Ludwick finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for St. Louis, which has dropped five of its last seven games overall and now leads the Reds by just two games for first place in the National League Central. Matt Holliday added an RBI in the loss after sitting out the previous two games due to a groin injury.

Brad Penny suffered the loss, getting charged with the four unearned runs over seven innings.

"We had a chance to put them away and we didn't. I got to get one of those guys out," Penny lamented about the rally.

The Cardinals took two of three from the Astros from April 12-15 and have still won 11 of the past 19 in the series.

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