St. Louis Cardinals: Fister Calms Hot Cardinals’ bats

The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. Doug Fister and Colby Rasmus led the way with standout performances.

Tuesday night the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Houston Astros by a final score of 5-2. The Astros picked up the first game of the short two game series, and will look to take the second game tomorrow afternoon at 6:15pm CT.

Doug Fister got the start for the Astros and handled the Cardinals for most of the night. Fister pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed only five hits against the Redbird bats. The tall, and not-so-hard throwing righty threw six strikeouts and only made two big mistakes on the night, allowing two solo home runs to Matt Adams and Brandon Moss. Fister continues to act as the most effective pitcher for the Astros, as he moved to 7-3 with the win on Tuesday night.

Fister not only held his ground on the mound, but he provided two needed insurance runs in the seventh inning when he smacked a two-RBI single to center field. This came against Seung-hwan Oh, who is arguably the Cardinals’ most effective reliever to this point in the season.

The Astros effort was aided by Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez and Marwin Gonzalez. Rasmus drilled a two-run home run to right center field in the fifth inning. Along with this home run, Rasmus added a single in the seventh inning. This was Rasmus’ first start in St. Louis since the Cardinals traded him to the Blue Jays in 2011 and was welcomed by an unusually docile St. Louis crowd.

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Carlos Gomez, who has struggled all season, seemed to revive his old form for the night. Gomez, who is carrying a weak .189 batting average, gathered two hits against his old division rivals. Gomez made his spark-plug impact felt on the base paths, where he scored three runs and snagged a base against Yadier Molina. Marwin Gonzalez also gathered two hits, one of which resulted in an RBI double to right field in the fifth inning.

Jaime Garcia was the losing pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, and just never seemed to find his groove on the mound. Garcia did last 6 1/3 innings, only allowing three earned runs to the Astros, but unfortunately for Garcia that just wasn’t enough to keep the Cardinals ahead. Garcia allowed eight hits and only struck out two batters, moving his record to a somewhat disappointing 4-6.

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Fortunately for the Cardinals, they have a chance to end the series with a draw tomorrow night. The Cardinals will send Adam Wainwright to the mound against Collin McHugh of the Astros. The game will be underway at 6:15pm CT and will be aired on Fox Sports Midwest.