Leahy shows strong stuff, escapes tricky fourth

Showing the kind of improvement between starts that the Cards thought was possible for him because of his high baseball IQ, right-hander Kyle Leahy limited the Astros to five hits and three earned runs over five innings of work. Not only did Leahy strike out six, but he got nine swings and misses.

Leahy’s line might not have looked so solid without some dazzling escape work in the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, rookie standout JJ Wetherholt knocked down a sinking liner off the bat of Taylor Trammell to keep a run from scoring. Leahy then struck out Christian Vazquez and Isaac Paredes to end the fourth and preserve the Cardinals 4-2 lead.

“He was on the attack, and the sinker was a really good pitch for him,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol said of Leahy. “He mixed everything else well.”

Herrera, Gorman go deep late

Leads are rarely safe at Daikin Park with the way the ball tends to fly out of the park there. However, it was the Cardinals driving the ball out of the park late in the game.

Gorman, who struck out in his first three at bats, drilled an inside fastball for a three-run shot in the seventh inning. Gorman, who had seen his average plummet in recent weeks and his strikeout totals start to creep up again, homered for the first time since March 30.

Herrera, who came into Friday as one of MLB’s walks leaders, crushed a pitch 383 feet for a two-run homer in the eight inning that turned the game into a rout.

“Things can change quickly in this ballpark, especially with that lineup across the way because they are so deep,” Marmol said. “So, to be able to add on like we did, that was important.”

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