Marquis throws complete game in win over Astros

HOUSTON -- Jason Marquis went more than a month without winning a game for the St. Louis Cardinals. He didn't trust his pitches and found himself on the mound waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

The right-hander is feeling much better after consecutive complete-game victories.

Marquis limited Houston to five hits in the Cardinals' 4-1 victory Sunday that kept the Astros from becoming the NL wild-card leader. He lost seven starts in a row before the two complete games.

"I needed this more mentally than anything," Marquis said. "When you start struggling, you doubt yourself a little bit, and that's not a good thing. ... To have these results in back-to-back games, it is a confidence boost."

Marquis (11-13) threw a two-hit shutout in his last appearance, Aug. 27 at Washington -- his first win since beating the Astros on July 16. On Sunday, he struck out five and didn't allow any walks while throwing 71 of his 98 pitches for strikes in his third career complete game, all this season.

"That's how he pitched early in the year. He just got in a funk," manager Tony La Russa said. "In the middle of that funk, he had a couple of games like this and we couldn't score for him. ... This is what he's capable of doing."

Marquis got hit on his left fingers swinging at a pitch in the seventh inning. He said it was only a bruise and that the wrap engulfing his entire hand was only a precaution.

St. Louis, with the best record in the major leagues, took two of three in the weekend series between the NL Central's top two teams and leads the season series 11-3.

Houston rookie Wandy Rodriguez (9-7) faced the minimum 15 hitters through five innings, benefiting from double-play grounders after leadoff singles in the first and third innings. But then the left-hander got in trouble after issuing a walk and hitting a batter to start the sixth.

Marquis had a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners before Jim Edmonds doubled into the right-center field gap to put the Cardinals up 2-1. Edmonds came home on a single by Yadier Molina that went through Rodriguez's legs into center field.

Molina added another RBI single in the eighth inning.

Houston had consecutive singles to start the second, but Lance Berkman was thrown out by left fielder Hector Luna when he tried to get to third on Jason Lane's hit.

Marquis retired 16 of the next 17 batters after that, allowing only a solo homer by Berkman with two outs in the fourth.