By Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
HOUSTON — St. Louis Cardinals righthander Kyle Lohse failed to join Lance Lynn as St. Louis starters to open their seasons at 5-0.
Pitching up in the strike zone, Lohse was far from his April self as he allowed five runs in five innings to the Houston Astros on Friday night. But two of those runs were unearned, and perhaps just one of the five should have scored if the Cardinals’ defense had performed better.
On the other hand, Lohse pointed to the three-run homer he gave up to Jose Altuve in the second inning, the difference maker in a 5-4 Houston victory that was the Astros’ fourth straight. Houston has the longest current winning streak in the National League at four games.
The Cardinals have lost two in a row for the third time this season. They have not dropped three straight.
Lohse (4-1) reached 99 pitches way faster than he wanted to, pitching deep into counts more than earlier in the season even though he walked just one, marking the fifth time in six starts he had walked either none or one. It was obvious he had an occasional disagreement with home plate umpire Paul Emmel, once disgustedly catching Yadier Molina’s return throw to the mound with his bare hand.
“A couple of calls could have gone either way,” said Lohse. “It was tough. You’re out there grinding and you feel like you’re doing everything you can, hitting your spots … and you keep running full counts and 2-2 counts.
“(The Astros) made me work more than I have had to in recent starts.”
After Rafael Furcal, nine for 21 in a five-game hitting streak, reached base and scored for a fourth straight game in the first inning, an error by right fielder Matt Carpenter led to a two-run burst by the Astros in their first at-bat. Carpenter, normally an infielder and playing his first game in the outfield, got caught between a dive and snatching Jordan Schafer’s leadoff liner at his shoe tops. He had tried to make a play without diving at home a couple of days ago, and the play correctly was ruled a trap.
“The ball’s got to be caught. That’s the bottom line,” said Carpenter. “I misplayed it. I was in between whether I wanted to dive. But, this time I was trying to be more aggressive and I didn’t come up with it.
“It obviously didn’t come out the way I wanted to,” said Carpenter, displaying that he had held up his glove upward rather than downward.
“That’s an out and Lohse and everybody expects that to be an out. You make a pitch like that and the ball’s got to be caught.
“You learn from it and try to make it up next time.”
Lohse didn’t help in the inning by allowing a double steal.
But the Cardinals tied the score at 2-2 on a balk by Houston starter Lucas Harrell.
Another error, this time a wild throw by Cardinals first baseman Allen Craig on a potential double-play ball, led to Altuve’s homer off Lohse. With Harrell on first, Schafer hit a smash to Craig, who made a good stop but then winged the ball over the head of shortstop Furcal, who said had the throw been good, the Cardinals would have turned the double play.
Craig, playing just his third game at first base for the Cardinals after coming off the disabled list, hasn’t had much time to work on his defense, relative to his concentration on getting his right knee healthy and then his offense. Trying to avoid the runner, he threw wide of Furcal on a similar play the day before, but this throw was worse.
“I’m not going to make excuses,” said Craig. “It’s a double-play ball. It’s a fairly routine play. I should have made it.
“I just threw it away. It’s one of those you wish you could have back.”
Lohse said “maybe” the Cardinals would have turned the double play with a good throw. But he added, “That’s not what lost the game.
“I tried to go ‘sinker in’ (to Altuve). It was just up and he did a good job of hitting it.”
A run-scoring triple by Matt Holliday and Craig’s deep sacrifice fly got the Cardinals back to 5-4 in the third. And then there was no further scoring as the bullpens dominated and center fielder Jon Jay saved two or three hits for the Cardinals in the spacious outfield.
His best was a spectacular diving catch to his right on Carlos Lee to end the second inning.
“Three great plays,” said manager Mike Matheny. “His jumps and his anticipation have really been impressive. That’s something that doesn’t go unnoticed around here.
“He gets to balls that, most of the time you see them come off the bat, nobody’s going to get to them.”
