The St. Louis Cardinals had little trouble in a 14-2 beatdown of the Houston Astros on Thursday night. After the first two games of the three-game series were each decided by a single run, the Cardinals made Thursday's game a bit less competitive.
Adam Wainwright made a strong start for St. Louis, allowing just two runs on six hits over six innings while striking out 11 hitters. The Astros initially took a 2-0 lead through the first two innings, but things quickly unraveled from there for Houston.
The Cardinals offense got to Astros starter J.A. Happ in the third inning, and he was out of the game before the end of the fifth. The bullpen didn't fare much better, allowing ten runs in place of Happ.
David Freese had an absolutely huge game for St. Louis, hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning and two-run homer en route to six RBI on the night. The Cardinals also got two RBI apiece from Carlos Beltran, Rafael Furcal, Allen Craig and Shane Robinson.
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more coverage of this series, head over to Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos and Astros blog Crawfish Boxes. For more general baseball coverage, head over to Baseball Nation.