ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Despite seeing 10 pitches and reaching base twice in his first two plate appearances against Astros starter Ronel Blanco, Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbaar did not take a swing while at the plate until he saw the 14th pitch Houston’s right-hander offered him Wednesday at Busch Stadium.

Hitting from his usual leadoff spot, Nootbaar walked on six pitches in his first at-bat and had the same result but on four pitches in his second turn at the plate. In the fifth inning, with his team looking to score its first run since Monday night, Nootbaar’s first swing of the afternoon produced three.

On a 2-1 curveball from Blanco, Nootbaar clubbed a three-run home run that traveled 418 feet to center field to help lift the Cardinals to a 4-1 win over the Astros that also secured a series win over Houston for the first time since August 2016.

“Blanco’s fastball was playing real well today,� Nootbaar said. “I think for me, being able to see a few of those early and then be able to get on first base and be like, ‘OK, I’ve seen some of the mix that he’s throwing without having to take a swing or do stuff like that,’ it kind of settles you in a little bit.�

Nootbaar’s home run erased a 1-0 lead the Astros got in the first inning against Cardinals starter Steven Matz, who completed five innings and allowed one run. In his first start of the season after opening the year in the bullpen, Matz retired 15 consecutive batters after allowing the first two he faced to reach base with singles in the first inning.

The Cardinals (9-9) received an additional RBI from rookie Thomas Saggese when he doubled home a run in the sixth inning. The win was closed out by Ryan Helsley, who notched his third save of the season. It wrapped up a 4-2 homestand that featured three games against the Phillies and three against the Astros — a pair of playoff teams a season ago.

“We faced a good arm (Tuesday night) and faced another one today and just continued to grind our at-bats, and we got the big hit (today) that we didn’t have yesterday,� Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “(Nootbaar) with the homer came up really big there. (We) took advantage of certain things on the bases and continued to play good, solid baseball. It was a solid homestand, for sure.�

Entering Wednesday, the Cardinals had not scored a run since Nolan Arenado homered with no outs in the seventh inning in an 8-3 win Monday. The Cardinals were shut out Tuesday for the first time this year when Astros starter Hunter Brown twirled six scoreless innings and three relievers (Bryan King, Bryan Abreu, and Josh Hader) combined for three scoreless innings of relief.

The scoreless streak hit 17 consecutive innings without a run, but a bunt set the table for Nootbaar to break it.

Victor Scott II led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single on a bunt that rolled less than halfway up the third base line and didn’t even draw a throw as third baseman Isaac Paredes watched the baseball trickle up the line and sit on the chalk before it ran out of steam. Saggese moved Scott to third base when he singled, and Nootbaar brought all three of them in to score when he homered off Blanco, who posted a 2.80 ERA in 167 1/3 innings in 2024.

“Houston does a good job on the pitching side and obviously the hitting side as well,� Nootbaar said. “They’ve had a history of a lot of good pitchers over there, and Blanco is one of them. I just think being able to grind out at-bats, try to put pressure on them early, but then having guys at the bottom of the order, like (Scott) and (Saggese) do their thing, makes it a lot easier for the rest of the guys.�

Before the Cardinals broke the stretch of 17 consecutive innings without a run, they drew one walk in each of the first three innings while facing Blanco before Alec Burleson reached base in the fourth inning on an infield single that required a replay review to overturn the original out call.

Cardinals hitters pushed Blanco’s pitch count to 62 through four innings. They produced hard contact with six of the first 12 balls put in play having exit velocities above 95 mph. Four of those surpassed 100 mph all while they looked for their first run since Monday.

On pitch No. 74, a curveball the right-hander threw to Nootbaar, they got it.

“The days kind of blend together, so you kind of try to be as goldfish mentality as possible. Try to put that ‘Ted Lasso’ quote in there,� said Brendan Donovan, who singled in the fifth inning to push his hit streak to a career-high 12 games. “They kind of blend together. To be honest ... I forgot that we got shut out yesterday. But what I look at is, yeah, we weren’t scoring runs, but today, the pitch count was starting to climb, right? Hit some balls hard. Some deep counts, and then (Nootbaar) gets that 2-1 breaking ball.

“Wham. That was the pitch that we were looking for. That was the one to get us through, but we had worked for five innings to try to grind them down for that one big swing, and he took it.�