Cards squeeze out sweep

HOUSTON -- Hector Luna's sacrifice bunt scored Reggie Sanders in the top of the 12th inning Thursday night, leading the Cardinals to their best road start in more than 60 years with a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros.

The Cardinals are undefeated in six road games this season, the team's best start since 1941.

Sanders hit a blooper to Jeff Kent at second base, who stumbled as he fielded the ball and tried to flip it to Jeff Bagwell at first. Sanders narrowly outran the throw, drawing boos from the crowd of 33,076.

Sanders then stole second base, got tangled up with Kent at second as the ball dribbled by, and advanced to third. Luna's bunt drove in Sanders for the winning run.

Julian Tavarez closed it out in the bottom of the 12th to earn the save.

The Cardinals swept the three-game series against the Astros, getting a little revenge for Houston's three straight wins in St. Louis last week.

A matchup of the National League's two top offenses was curbed by dominant performances on the mound.

St. Louis starter Jason Marquis didn't give up a run until Craig Biggio's RBI single in the seventh that tied it at 1.

Until then, Marquis had pitched 10 scoreless innings dating to an 8-4 win over Colorado on April 17. The right-hander allowed only one run on six hits in seven innings Thursday night.

Mike Lincoln, Jason Isringhausen, Cal Eldred, Steve Kline and Tavarez held the Astros scoreless over the next five innings.

Isringhausen (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, pitching two hitless innings.

Houston's Roy Oswalt, coming off a complete game three-hitter against Milwaukee last week, also had a strong start.

In seven innings, Oswalt allowed only one run on four hits, but didn't get enough offensive help to get the victory. Dan Miceli (0-1) picked up the loss, giving up the bunt that scored Sanders.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the fourth after Scott Rolen drove in his league-leading 26th run, scoring Ray Lankford.

The Astros had their chances to score in the sixth when Jeff Bagwell lined a shot to center that sent Adam Everett toward third, but Everett was narrowly thrown out on a great throw by Jim Edmonds. Kent singled in the next at-bat.

Noteworthy

Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen has hit safely in 12 straight games.