Springer homer boosts Astros past Cardinals 4-1

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in St. Louis.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - George Springer hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and the Houston Astros completed a two-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday night.

Tony Sipp (1-2) got the last out of the seventh in relief of Collin McHugh, Carlos Correa's two-run single off Trevor Rosenthal made it a three-run lead in the ninth and Will Harris finished for his fifth save in as many chances.

The Astros are 15-7 since moving Springer to the leadoff spot ahead of Jose Altuve. But he had been in a 4-for-37 slump before connecting to straightaway center off Kevin Siegrist (4-2) with two outs for his 15th homer.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright worked seven innings of four-hit ball and Greg Garcia, batting for the pitcher in the bottom half, hit an RBI single off McHugh to open the scoring.

Yadier Molina started the two-out rally with a single, one of his three hits, and barely beat Springer's relay home from right.

Wainwright is 13-1 in his career with a 1.48 ERA against the Astros, the lowest in major league history against an opponent among starters with at least 10 starts. He struck out six, walked three and faced only one batter with a runner in scoring position when he fanned McHugh to end the fifth.

McHugh allowed one run in 6 2-3 innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

The Astros wrapped up their first trip to St. Louis since the hacking scandal of the team's data base last year.

BIG MISS

The Cardinals had three hits and an intentional walk in the fifth but came up empty. The key play: Jhonny Peralta dropped a blooper just inside the line in medium right for a hit but Stephen Piscotty, who doubled to open the inning, was an easy out at the plate on the relay by Springer from right field.

GREAT GRABS

Cardinals 1B Matt Adams made an outstanding sliding catch of Altuve's foul pop near the St. Louis dugout to end the top of the sixth. LF Matt Holliday slid to snare Correa's sinking liner to end the first.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Astros: RHP Luke Gregorson is on the family medical reserve list and is expected back within a week.

Cardinals: Demoted 2B Kolten Wong has been playing CF for Triple-A Memphis, helping his chances for a recall at some point. ... C Brayan Pena returned to Memphis for a rehab start after spending time at home in Orlando, Florida, attending to a personal issue.

UP NEXT

Astros: The rotation has been juggled a bit and Lance McCullers (3-2, 4.54) will work the opener of a three-game series against the Reds on Friday, followed by Dallas Keuchel (3-9, 5.54) and Mike Fiers (4-3, 4.76).

Cardinals: Michael Wacha (2-6, 4.91) has lost a career-worst six consecutive decisions since April 28 entering the opener of a weekend series against the Rangers on Friday. The last St. Louis pitcher to lose seven straight was Kip Wells in 2007.

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