Today in 1989 - Houston Astros vs St Louis Cardinals

September 3, 1989 – Today in 1989, the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the Houston Astros at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Houston got on the board first with an RBI single by Craig Biggio in the 4^th inning.  Glenn Wilson hit an RBI single in the 5^th and Mark Portugal scored on a Kevin Bass groundout in the top of the 6^th.  The Astros led 3-0.

But the Cardinals would not be denied.  In the bottom of the 6^th inning, Willie McGee hit in Vince Coleman on a ground rule double.  Ozzie Smith hit a sacrifice fly and McGee advanced to third.  McGee scored on a groundout by Milt Thompson.  The score was now 3-2.

In the bottom of the 8^th, Thompson hit a sacrifice fly and the score was now tied 3-3.  Relief pitcher Todd Worrell got out the side in the top of the 9^th. 

In the bottom of the 9^th, Astros reliever Danny Darwin faced Terry Pendleton, who hit a single into center field.  Denny Walling hit a long single to right field and Pendleton advanced to third.  With runners at the corners, Darwin intentionally walked Jose Oquendo and the bases were loaded.  Leon Durham pinch hit for Tony Pena and hit a fly ball to center field.  Pendleton tagged and scored.  Game over.  The Cardinals beat the Astros 4-3.

Cardinal reliever Todd Worrell got the win and went to 3-5.  Danny Darwin fell to 11-4 and Juan Agosto got his fourth blown save.

The Houston Astros dropped to 72-64.  They were 6 games behind the San Francisco Giants, 2^nd in the NL West.  The St. Louis Cardinals improved to 74-61.  They were a game and a half behind the Chicago Cubs, 2^nd in the NL East.

Notables

• There were 2 Hall of Famers playing or managing in this game, both with the Cardinals: player Ozzie Smith and manager Whitey Herzog.
  
• Neither starting pitcher factored in the final decision.  Houston starting pitcher Mark Portugal pitched for 7.1 innings.  He struck out 6 and batted 2-4.  St. Louis starting pitcher Joe Magrane pitched for 6 innings.  He struck out 4 and batted 0-1.
  
• This was Art Howe’s first season managing the Astros.  He is featured in blog entries from the past several days.
  
• This was Whitey Herzog’s 9^th season managing the Cardinals.  He managed the team from 1981-90.  He led them to a World Series win in 1982 and two NL Pennants in 1985 and 1987.
  
• Art Howe played for Whitey Herzog from 1984-85.
  
• Tony Pena went on to manage the Kansas City Royals from 2002-05.

Game stats and other data can be found on Baseball-Reference.com at Houston Astros vs St Louis Cardinals - September 3, 1989.