ST. LOUIS -- Matt Carpenter welcomes it when teams bring in a left-handed reliever to face him. In fact, he almost thrives on it. The left-handed Carpenter hit a two-run home run off lefty Wesley Wright (0-3) and Matt Holliday drove in two with a two-out hit to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 5-4 Wednesday night. "Ive always felt, my whole career, even as an amateur, like I see lefties pretty well," said Carpenter, who earned his first All-Star Game selection this year. "I try to take the same approach and just get a good pitch to hit and try to put a good swing on it." Carpenters batting average is nearly 40 points lower against lefties (.294 versus.333 against right-handers), but four of his nine home runs this season have come against southpaws. His homer in the seventh gave the win to Seth Maness (5-1). Tony Cruz got hit by starter Jordan Lyles first pitch of the inning and one out later Carpenter put a 2-1 pitch into the right field stands. "I think he takes it personal that they come in thinking thats something hed have more of a weakness with," manager Mike Matheny said. "Theres some guys who are just highly motivated and I think thats one of the things he takes a lot pride in, is putting together a tough at-bat so they just dont start firing left-handers against us." Maness gave up two hits and a run in two innings of relief. He struck out three. Edward Mujica earned his 25th save in 26 tries. He has appeared in six consecutive games, going 1-1 with four saves. Lyles gave up four runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out two and walked two. Lyles hasnt won a game since beating Milwaukee on June 18. Astros manager Bo Porter said he knew his starter would only face the first two batters in the seventh. "That was a totally left-on-left decision and you look at the stress of the innings in which he had gotten to that point," Porter said. "I sent him back out there with the notion he was going to face Cruz, he was going to face the pinch hitter (Yadier Molina) and Wesley was going to be ready for Carpenter." Cardinals starter Shelby Miller needed 94 pitches to labour through five innings. He gave up three earned runs, walked five and struck out five. He had a total of six full counts, coming back to strike out Jason Castro and getting Brett Wallace to ground out. "It was a rough one for me," Miller said. "I didnt have anything going for me. I couldnt throw strikes or much of anything. I just tried to keep the team in it as much as I could with what I had. It wasnt much, but five innings, three runs and the offence picks you up. "These guys never cease to amaze me when they go out there and do the things that they do." Wallace, who had four hits and scored a run, drove in Jose Altuve in the seventh to give Houston a 4-3 lead. Hollidays single in the fifth tied the score at 3-3. His slap to right field drove in Cruz and Shane Robinson, who had a pinch hit single in place of Miller. Allen Craig walked to open the second and scored on Matt Adams single. Adams has five RBIs in in his past six games. The Cardinals swept their five-game homestand with three victories over Miami before taking both against Houston. The home sweep comes on the heels of a 7-11 stretch that included three wins over the Chicago Cubs, who host the Cardinals in a four-game set starting Thursday. "This is a huge five-game stretch for us to win, come out here and win all these games at home, to get on a roll right before the All-Star break," Carpenter said. "Hopefully we can continue it in Chicago." Chris Carter hit his 18th home run just over the right field fence to open the second. Houston then used a Wallace single, two walks and an error for a 2-0 lead. The Astros took a 3-1 lead after Castro hit a ground rule double and J.D. Martinez drove him in with a single in the fifth. NOTES: Cardinals C Cruz got his third start in the past four games in place of All-Star catcher and league-leading batter Yadier Molina, who is nursing a sore right knee. Hes gone 3 of 9 in that span. ... Molina struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh. ... Wallace, former first-round pick of the Cardinals, is 7 for 18 with five RBIs and four runs in four games this season against St. Louis. . Porter said after the game the Astros will call up one of their top prospects, 23-year-old right-hander Jarred Cosart, to make his major league debut Friday at Tampa Bay. Dallas Keuchel will be pushed to Saturday with Erik Bedard starting on Sunday. . The Astros have lost 13 of their past 15 games against their former NL Central division rivals. Nike Air Max 1 For Sale . 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Wholesale Nike Air Max 1 . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. SEATTLE -- Mike Fiers was coming off perhaps his worst start of the season. He followed it up with one of his best at a crucial time for the Houston Astros.Fiers pitched six scoreless innings Saturday night as the Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1.Houston pulled into a tie with Seattle and Detroit in the AL wild-card race, three games behind Baltimore and Toronto.In his last start, Fiers (11-7) gave up seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings in a 9-5 loss to the Cubs. Before Saturdays game, Houston manager A.J. Hinch praised Fiers perseverance, a quality that paid off against Seattle.I do expect him on any given night to come out and give a good performance, Hinch said. This is a good ballpark for him to pitch in. When he throws strikes and mixes his pitches, hes as good as weve got.Fiers gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, but allowed only one more hit. It was the third time Fiers didnt allow a run in 27 starts this season, and the three hits allowed also equaled his season best.Weve got a great starting rotation, Fiers said. Maybe things havent gone the way weve wanted them to be, but were still going out there and trying to do our job and not worry about everybody else. Just go game to game.The Astros needed a strong pitching performance, as Seattle starter James Paxton (4-7) dominated early. Paxton was perfect through five innings before allowing both runs in the sixth.At one point you get a little nervous, when you get to the middle part of the game and we hadnt had a baserunner, Hinch said. We just had to wait him out to get a good pitch.Teoscar Hernandez got the Astros first hit to lead off the sixth, a line drive that had Paxton ducking out of the way. Tyler White followed with a double, putting runners aat second and third.ddddddddddddAfter Jake Marisnick grounded out and Paxton struck out George Springer, Yuli Gurriel drove both runs home with a single to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.Paxton pitched through the seventh, giving up four hits with an intentional walk and seven strikeouts.The Mariners had chances to rally in the late innings but fell short.Chris Devenski relieved Fiers in the seventh inning and gave up singles to Kyle Seager and Leonys Martin, putting runners on first and second with two outs. It was the first time the Mariners had multiple baserunners in the game, but Devenski got out of the jam by striking out Mike Zunino after running the count full.In the eighth, Nori Aoki beat out an infield single for his third hit of the game, and Seth Smith followed with an RBI double off Luke Gregerson to cut the Astros lead to one.Gregerson kept Seattle from adding any more, getting Robinson Cano to strike out on a check swing and Nelson Cruz with a pop out to second to end the inning.Our guys are a little anxious. I think you can see it, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. Theres no doubt that were a better offensive club than weve shown the last few nights.TRAINERS ROOMMariners 1B Adam Lind missed his fifth straight game with a sprained finger on his right hand. Servais said Lind is day to day.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Doug Fister (12-11, 4.17 ERA) will start the series finale. Fister has lost three straight decisions, with his last win coming Aug. 22.Mariners: LHP Ariel Miranda (4-1, 4.10) will make his eighth career start and first against Houston. He has earned the win in each of his last three starts. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '