Arenado’s home runs give Cardinals 4-2 win over Astros

HOUSTON (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered, Alec Burleson added an RBI double to support a strong start from Miles Mikolas and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 4-2 on Wednesday.

Burleson’s hit made it 3-0 in the fifth inning and Arenado added an insurance run in the sixth after the Astros got within 1 in the bottom of the fifth.

Mikolas (4-6) allowed five hits and two runs in six innings. Ryan Helsley pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save.

Manager Oliver Marmol pulled Mikolas after just 62 pitches.

“We have three guys who are really good at the back,” Marmol said. “He’s crossing the alley. At this point, it’s not the number of pitches. It was more the familiarity with the hitters that attracted him.

Marmol was impressed by the improvements Mikolas made in his last few starts.

“He’s very good at baseball,” Marmol said. “He was a lot deeper. His mix was good. He made some small adjustments. For the most part, he simply controls every at-bat. There’s a purpose behind what he’s throwing and it looks really good.

Yainer Diaz scored for a third straight game and Trey Cabbage hit his first home run of the season, but the Astros couldn’t complete the series sweep on a day when top hitters Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman sat out in due to injuries.

Tucker missed his second game after fouling a ball to the shin Monday night and Bregman was a late scratch with left hand soreness after being hit by a pitch Tuesday night. Bregman said after the game that he was feeling better and expected to play Friday.

Manager Joe Espada was asked about the disappearance of two key members of the team on Wednesday.

“It’s not ideal… they’re two very important parts of our club,” he said. “But we have to find ways to get through times like this.”

Brandon Crawford got things going for St. Louis when he doubled to start third and moved to third base on a Pedro Pagés groundout. The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead when Crawford scored on a Michael Siani sacrifice fly.

Pagés walked with one out in the fifth and advanced to second on a grounder from Siani. An RBI single by Brendan Donovan made it 2-0. Burleson then hit a double into the right field corner to score Donovan and make the lead 3-0.

“I love hitting here, I love being here,” Burleson said. “The ball passes. Here, we see clearly. I was lucky enough to take some good swings at the balls and see them fall. »

The Astros had managed just two singles when Diaz homered to right field with one out in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 3-1. Cabbage followed with his shot to the bullpen in right-center field to bring the Astros within 3-2.

Arenado homered to left field against Ronel Blanco (5-2) with one out in the sixth to extend the lead to 4-2.

Blanco allowed five hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings for his second straight loss after opening the season 5-0, highlighted by a no-hitter in his season debut.

“He threw the ball really well,” Espada said. “He was in the zone, made all his throws really well, just missed a few spots there. But again, another quality debut. He threw the ball really well and gave us a chance to win.

Trainers’ room

Astros: RHPs Cristian Javier and José Urquidy are both expected to have right elbow surgery this week and are out for the season. Urquidy’s operation is scheduled for Wednesday and Javier’s for Thursday. Espada said Tucker was still very sore, but the Astros were hopeful he could return Friday.

Following

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (7-3, 3.00 ERA) starts for St. Louis against RHP Cal Quantrill (4-4, 3.84) in the first of four games against Colorado on Thursday night.

Astros: They are off Thursday before LHP Framber Valdez (4-3, 3.95 ERA) starts Game 1 of a series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.