Cardinals Hang On, Beat Astros, 8-7

So Taguchi and Mark Grudzielanek each hit a two-run double and St. Louis’ bullpen withstood a meltdown before holding on for an 8-7 victory over Houston on Friday night at St. Louis.

“It was not too bad,” starter Jason Marquis said. “Obviously, we had a big enough cushion in case something like what happened, happened.”

Marquis (3-0) had two hits and scored twice for the Cardinals, who have won seven of eight. But he labored through 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight and throwing 108 pitches. After leading, 8-1, in the sixth, St. Louis needed four relievers to end the Astros’ three-game winning streak while Marquis watched helplessly.

“I was just thinking back on pitches I could have made and should have made,” Marquis said. “You’ve got to take these wins as they come.”

The Cardinals’ bullpen hadn’t given up a run in 17 1/3 innings over a nine-game span and entered this three-game series with a 3.34 earned-run average. St. Louis used four pitchers in the Astros’ five-run sixth, when Randy Flores hit the only batter he faced with a pitch and Al Reyes gave up a three-run double to Adam Everett before Julian Tavarez got Jason Lane on a force play with the bases loaded to end the inning.

“It’s frustrating to battle back from that far down and not win,” Lane said. “It showed a lot that we just didn’t roll over after they got that big lead.”

In the seventh, Tavarez gave up a home run to Morgan Ensberg that narrowed the gap to 8-7. Then Tavarez settled down, retiring six of the next eight hitters.

Jason Isringhausen worked a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.

Astro starter Brandon Duckworth (0-1) walked three and had a throwing error in the Cardinals’ five-run second.

Milwaukee 6, San Francisco 1 -- At San Francisco, Victor Santos pitched a five-hitter for his first career complete game, Junior Spivey hit a two-run homer and the Brewers ended a seven-game losing streak.

Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run double for the Brewers, and Santos (1-0) struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.

Kirk Rueter (0-2) pitched into the eighth inning, but lost to Milwaukee for only the second time in his career.

Arizona 5, San Diego 3 -- Troy Glaus and Royce Clayton each homered and drove in two runs, Brad Halsey pitched a career-high seven innings and the Diamondbacks recovered from a 2-5 trip to beat the Padres at Phoenix.

Glaus had three hits, including a two-run homer.

New York 3, Washington 1 -- At New York, Tom Glavine limited the Nationals to two hits over seven innings and Cliff Floyd hit his fourth home run.

Glavine (1-2) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning then retired 13 of the next 14 batters.

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 2 -- Marcus Giles hit his first home run and Andruw Jones had a run-scoring double in the third inning to snap the an 0-for-28 drought at Atlanta.

Brave starter Mike Hampton (2-0) came within one out of his first complete game since May 2004.

Florida 4, Cincinnati 2 -- Luis Castillo hit a tiebreaking two-run triple off Kent Mercker (1-1) in the seventh inning and A.J. Burnett struck out a season-high 13 at Miami.

Pittsburgh at Chicago -- The game was postponed by rain and was rescheduled for July 14.