Cardinals  7    Astros  3

St. Louis Cardinals (87-63) at Houston Astros (70-79), 8:05 p.m.

Sports Network | September 21, 2009

(Sports Network) - The National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals kick off a nine-game road trip Monday with the first of three straight games against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Cardinals' magic number to clinch their first division title since 2006 is four, while they sit 10 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs in the standings. St. Louis is coming off an unsuccessful homestand in which it went 3-6 and failed in its bid to sweep a three-game set versus the Cubs after Sunday's 6-3, 11- inning loss at Busch Stadium.

Mitchell Boggs allowed three runs in the top of the 11th inning to absorb the loss, while NL Cy Young hopeful Adam Wainwright was in pursuit of his major league-leading 19th win of the season. Wainwright, though, did not factor in the outcome and yielded three runs -- two earned -- in seven innings. Mark DeRosa, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina each had an RBI for St. Louis.

"He pitched outstanding," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of Wainwright on the team's site. "Wainwright was outstanding again. It's a tough loss but we played to the end, as hard as we could, as good as we could. You turn the page."

Kyle Lohse will try for his first win in more than a month when he takes the mound for the Cardinals tonight. Lohse is only 1-5 in his last six decisions and did not factor in the outcome of a 7-6 loss to Atlanta his previous time out on September 12.

Lohse was reached for four runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and is 5-8 with a 4.83 ERA in 20 games (19 starts) this season. The right-hander, who hasn't won since beating Cincinnati on August 10, is 5-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 11 career games (10 starts) against the Astros.

Houston hopes to put the brakes on a seven-game losing streak Monday. It is coming off back-to-back three-game sweeps at the hands of Cincinnati and Milwaukee and suffered a 6-0 loss to the Brewers on Sunday at Miller Park.

Felipe Paulino was dealt the loss for allowing four runs and eight hits, including three home runs, in six innings of work. He struck out seven and walked a pair of batters.

Carlos Lee, Miguel Tejada and Humberto Quintero all doubled in the loss for the Astros, who were outhit by a 10-5 margin.

Taking the mound for Houston tonight will be Wandy Rodriguez, who is 1-3 over his last five starts. Rodriguez was beaten by Cincinnati his last time out on September 14, as he gave up two runs in six frames of a 3-1 setback.

The left-hander, who is 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA in 30 starts, lost at St. Louis on August 25 of this season and is 3-8 in 14 career games, 13 of which have been starts, against the Cardinals.

St. Louis has won seven of 12 matchups with Houston this season, but was swept in three games at Minute Maid Park from July 20-22.