Cards watch fourth-inning lead turn sour

ST. LOUIS --The longest RBI drought of Jeff Bagwell's career is over, and so is the Houston Astros' three-game losing streak.

Bagwell drove in his first run since May 8 and finished with four hits, and Jeriome Robertson beat the St. Louis Cardinals for the second straight start in a 7-4 victory Tuesday night.

Bagwell, the Astros' No. 3 hitter, went 75 plate appearances before getting his 25th RBI of the season on a single in the ninth inning.

"To get that over with is nice," said Bagwell, who celebrated his 35th birthday. "It was wearing on me a little bit, just because it was not a good streak to have.

"I'm supposed to drive in runs and to go that long without it, that's something that I should not be proud of."

Jeff Kent homered and had three hits for the Astros, who rallied from a 3-1 fourth-inning deficit. Kent, Craig Biggio and Bagwell combined for 10 hits and four RBIs.

The go-ahead run scored on a seventh-inning groundout by Morgan Ensberg, who is in an 0-for-11 slump.

Robertson (3-3) lasted six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits. The rookie left-hander allowed one run in 5 2-3 innings in a 5-2 victory over the Cardinals at Houston last Thursday.

He escaped a potentially big second inning with only two runs on four hits as Edgar Renteria ran through a stop sign and into an out at the plate.

"It's all those little things that mean the ballgame," Robertson said. "Obviously, there's room to improve, but it's starting to flow a little bit."

Renteria, who was an easy out at the plate on a relay from right fielder Orlando Merced, had no regrets about trying to score.

"If I had the chance, I'd do it again," Renteria said. "I think I could have scored on that play and that's why I went."

Kent had an RBI single in the fourth, singled and scored in the sixth and hit his eighth homer off Kiko Calero leading off the eighth for a 5-3 lead. He leads the NL in doubles (20) and leads the Astros in RBIs (36) and batting average (.333).

Kent also made a couple of nice over-the-shoulder catches at second base, one in the second inning and another in the third.

Biggio hit an RBI double in the ninth off Esteban Yan, acquired by the Cardinals from Texas earlier in the day.

Billy Wagner worked the ninth for his 14th save in 15 opportunities and 10th in a row. Wagner's last blown save was April 19 against the Brewers.

Brett Tomko (2-4) had an RBI single and Renteria an RBI double in a two-run second for St. Louis, and Chris Widger's RBI single made it 3-1 in the fourth. But Tomko gave up three runs on four hits in his last two innings, losing to the Astros for the second straight start.

"Would of, could of, you know, it doesn't really matter," Tomko said. "It's whatever the end result is."

Tomko, who entered with an NL-best 1.32 ERA at home, allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings. He improved over his last outing, also against Robertson, when he allowed five runs on eight hits in 4 1-3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season.

Biggio was 2-for-4, giving him six hits in the first two games of the four-game series.

Lance Berkman had an RBI single and Orlando Merced a run-scoring groundout to tie it at 3 in the sixth.

The Cardinals cut the gap to 5-4 on singles by Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen and a run-scoring groundout by Eduardo Perez off Octavio Dotel in the eighth.

Notes: Kent is batting .371 (33-for-89) in May with four homers and 21 RBIs. ... Cardinals backup C Chris Widger threw out two runners attempting to steal, catching Biggio in the fifth and Merced in the sixth. ... The Astros have used at least three pitchers in 39 consecutive games. ... Bagwell's previous career-long RBI slump of 70 plate appearances was in June 1992. ... The Astros are 16-9 in their last 25 games and have won five of their last seven on the road.