HOUSTON — Coming into Monday night’s game, JoJo Romero had allowed a total of two home runs to the last 276 batters he had faced dating back to Sept. 16, 2022.
That changed in a hurry in the eighth inning as Romero, trying to protect a 4-3 Cardinals lead, gave up two homers in a span of 14 pitches and five batters that gave the Astros the win in the opener of the series in Houston.
Romero, who had recorded an inning-ending strikeout in the seventh, was greeted in the eighth by a leadoff homer by Alex Bregman that tied the game. A single and two outs later, Yainer Diaz connected for a two-run shot that put the Astros in front.
Houston scored its fourth run of the inning, also charged to Romero, following an error by Masyn Winn and a double by Jose Altuve off Ryan Loutos.
The Cardinals had been 23-1 this season when they led after seven innings.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals hit two home runs in the first inning for the first time this season, with Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman hitting solo shots as they each homered for the second night in a row … Paul Goldschmidt doubled with two outs in the third and scored on a single by Nolan Arenado … Gorman homered again in the fifth, his 13th of the season, giving him the eighth two-homer game of his career … The Cardinals had only two baserunners after that homer, a two-out walk to Brendan Donovan followed by an infield single by Ivan Herrera in the eighth, but Matt Carpenter flew out to end the inning.
On the mound: Kyle Gibson allowed a two-run homer to Yordan Alvarez in the third that cut the Cardinals lead to 3-2 … A two-out RBI single in the sixth again pulled the Astros within a run … Gibson, who struck out eight, left with the bases loaded in the sixth before Andrew Kittredge was able to get out of the jam … Romero had allowed a total of four runs this season over 29 innings before giving up that many in the eighth to the Astros.
Key stat: Over the first seven games of this road trip, Gorman has gone 8-of-26, a .308 average, with five homers and nine RBIs. Gorman has hit eight homers in his last 14 games dating back to May 17.
Worth noting: The two home runs in the first inning came off Justin Verlander, who was making his first start against the Cardinals since 2012 … In their last eight games the Cardinals have scored 20 of their 29 runs on home runs … Errors by Gorman and Masyn Winn increased the Cardinals total to 21 in their last 18 games … After missing the series in Philadelphia because of a stiff neck, Donovan returned to the lineup and drew a walk in four plate appearances … Giovanny Gallegos is scheduled to make a rehab appearance for Triple A Memphis on Tuesday night.
Looking ahead: Andre Pallante, who threw six shutout innings against the Reds in his first start of this season, will get the start on Tuesday night in the second game of the series.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains.
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