ST. LOUIS — Carlos Correa hit his first career grand slam and the Houston Astros withstood yet another home run by Paul Goldschmidt, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-2 on Saturday night.
Goldschmidt homered in his sixth straight game, tying a Cardinals record with Matt Carpenter and Mark McGwire. St. Louis had won six in a row before this loss in an interleague matchup of division leaders.
Gerrit Cole (12-3) improved to 7-0 with a 1.87 ERA since June 1. He struck out seven, raising his major league-leading total to 212, and allowed four hits in seven innings.
Goldschmidt's 24th homer was a solo drive in the fourth and accounted for the only run off Cole.
Correa's opposite-field blast drive to right off Michael Wacha blew open the game in the third and was the Astros' major league-leading 10th grand slam this season. Wacha was brought in to face Correa after starter Daniel Ponce de Leon walked the bases loaded.
Ponce de Leon (1-1) went 2 1/3 innings, his shortest career start and the third straight in which he failed to last past the fourth inning. He walked four and struck out none.
Correa added an RBI single in the first as the Astros won for the eighth time in their last 10 games. George Springer drove in two with a triple in the eighth and Yuli Gurriel extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
Correa's homer was the lone run Wacha allowed through 4 1/3 innings of relief. He struck out five and walked none.
CRYSTAL ANNIVERSARY
Members of the Cardinals' 2004 team were on hand to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the franchise's 16th National League pennant. That club went 105-57 and defeated the Astros in seven games in the NLCS before being swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
HOT TICKET
The attendance was 46,518, the 13th sellout of the season at Busch Stadium.
TRAINING ROOM
Astros: RHP Ryan Pressly (right knee soreness) is day to day.
"Everybody's got to work through something," Pressly said. "I'm in the training room getting treatment and I've got all the faith in my training staff to get me right."
Cardinals: OF Dexter Fowler is day to day and was not in the starting lineup after leaving Friday's game in the eighth inning after fouling a ball off of his left foot. INF Jedd Gyorko (back strain, right wrist) will begin a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Wade Miley (8-4, 3.18) will pitch in the finale of a three-game series at St. Louis on Sunday. Miley is 2-3 with a 4.41 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals.
Cardinals: RHP Dakota Hudson (10-4, 3.61 ERA) will make his first career appearance against the Astros. In his last start, Hudson became the first Cardinals rookie to notch 10 wins in a season by game No. 100 since Shelby Miller in 2013.
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