Marquis, Cardinals can`t sweep Houston

Roy Oswalt pitched into the ninth to win his third straight start, leading the Houston Astros to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Astros scored four runs in the first inning before Oswalt took the mound and salvaged the finale of the three-game series. Houston, which snapped a three-game skid, trails first-place St. Louis by six games in the NL Central and pulled within four games of San Diego for the wild card lead. Willy Taveras stroked three hits and scored a run in the victory, while Lance Berkman chipped in three hits with a homer and two runs scored. Chris Burke keyed the big first inning with a two-run single. Oswalt (13-8) was charged with one run on seven hits in 8 1/3 innings and improved to 4-0 in five outings since a loss to Cincinnati on August 14. He was on the way to his fifth career shutout, but three straight one-out singles in the ninth plated a run and chased the veteran right-hander. Ronnie Belliard knocked in the lone run for the Cardinals, who had won five straight against the Astros. St. Louis starter Jason Marquis (14-15), pitching on three days` rest, lost his third straight start. He`d allowed just five runs in 14 innings over his past two outings, but on Wednesday was tagged for four runs on five hits and two walks in just one-inning plus. The Astros sent nine men to the plate and scored four times in the opening inning. Taveras and Morgan Ensberg started the game with singles before Berkman walked to load the bases. Aubrey Huff was called out on strikes, but Luke Scott walked to force in the first run and Burke followed with a two-run single. Eric Bruntlett added an RBI base hit to make it 4-0, before Marquis fanned Brad Ausmus and got Oswalt on a grounder to end the inning. Marquis was lifted after yielding a single to Taveras to start the second and Brad Thompson issued a walk to Ensberg before retiring Berkman on a pop up and Huff on a double-play grounder to keep it 4-0. It remained that way until the sixth when Berkman connected for a two-out homer, his 40th of the season. Oswalt, meanwhile, was cruising, allowing just three baserunners until the sixth when the Cardinals put together a mild threat. Albert Pujols walked with two outs and Scott Spiezio followed with a single to put runners on the corners, but Scott Rolen grounded out to third to end the inning. Rolen singled with one out in the ninth, raced to third on a base hit by Juan Encarnacion and scored on Belliard`s single to right field. Trever Miller took over for Oswalt and got So Taguchi on a fly ball to right field before Dan Wheeler fanned Preston Wilson for the final out to notch his fifth save. Game Notes The Astros won despite leaving 14 runners on base...Oswalt improved to 7-5 lifetime against the Cardinals...Marquis, who dropped to 7-4 lifetime against the Astros, fell to 1-3 when working on short rest...Belliard had two hits for St. Louis...The Cardinals surpassed the three million mark in attendance for the 10th straight season.