The St Louis Cardinals overwhelmed the Houston Astros in their series opener Monday, April 14 at Busch Stadium, defeating the Astros 8-3.

Nolan Arenado went three-for-four, with a home run in the seventh and two doubles. The Cardinals’ scoring began in the third when Lars Nootbaar scored on Willson Contreras’ grounder. Pedro Pagés brought home a pair of runs in the fourth on a double, then came home on Nootbaar’s single. The Cardinals added three more in the fifth with RBI doubles from Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan, and a Nolan Gorman sacrifice fly. The Astros prevented the shutout when Jeremy Peña smacked a three-run home run off reliever Roddery Muñoz.

Sonny Gray limited the Astros to three hits in his seven innings of work to earn his third win of the season. Gray gave up just one walk while striking out four.

The Cardinals are now 8-8 and will look for the series win when Erich Fedde takes the mound Tuesday evening. First pitch at Busch Stadium is at 6:45 p.m.