The St. Louis Cardinals got a boost in their race for the Wild Card on Monday as the Houston Astros allowed them to come into Minute Maid Park and take out a 6-1 win in the first game of their three-game set. The game looked strikingly similar to all three matches between the two teams in their last series only a week ago, where the Cards won the three games by a combined score of 14-5.
Houston started the game off with bad news when starting pitcher Fernando Abad had to be pulled with a sprained oblique in the second inning. Fernando Rodriguez was brought in to relieve him and didn't put up much of a fight, allowing the Cards to score three runs off of him including two home runs.
The lone Astros run came from Scott Moore in the second inning, pulling the Astros back to a 3-1 deficit at the time.
Game two of the series will take place on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. CT.
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