St. Louis' bats hammer Houston

HOUSTON -- Scott Rolen and the St. Louis Cardinals put on an impressive offensive display in Houston.

Rolen had three hits, including one of the Cardinals' five home runs, in a 12-6 victory over the Astros on Wednesday night.

Jim Edmonds hit a grand slam, Reggie Sanders had a three-run homer, and Ray Lankford and Marlon Anderson added solo home runs for the Cardinals, who beat the Astros for only the fourth time in 12 games. Edgar Renteria had three of the Cardinals' 16 hits off of five Houston pitchers.

"Right now everybody is clicking and we are beating the ball around," said Rolen, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Rolen is 19-for-47 for a .404 average with seven home runs and 21 RBIs during the streak.

"I'm seeing the ball well and I'm getting some good swings and some breaks. A home run here might be a fly ball at home," Rolen added.

Edmonds hit the fifth grand slam of his career in the sixth inning off reliever Ricky Stone, scoring Morris, Anderson and Albert Pujols.

"For this particular park, Edmonds does a real good job of sitting back and trying to hit the ball the other way. He got it up in the air like he wanted to," Houston's Craig Biggio said. "He's a great hitter."

Matt Morris (3-1) held Houston to three runs and four hits in six innings with four strikeouts and no walks. He also had an RBI single in the second.

"That's the best I've thrown this year as far as focus and hitting the strike zone," Morris said. "They swung early in the count and I got a lot of ground balls. It was a fun game for us and it should give us a confidence boost."

Tim Redding (0-3) was tagged for three home runs among the nine hits he allowed in 3 2-3 innings. He gave up eight runs in his third start to raise his ERA to 10.22 from 6.23.

St. Louis went up 3-0 in the first inning on a solo home run by Lankford, his third of the season, and a two-run shot by Rolen. Pujols doubled before Rolen hit his eighth of the season and 200th of his career.

St. Louis took an 8-0 lead in the fourth when Rolen and Renteria singled, and Sanders followed with his sixth home run. After two outs, Anderson chased Redding with his fourth homer.

"We have a dangerous lineup. If somebody isn't sharp we have a chance to jump on them and do some damage," St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa said.

Mike Lamb hit his second home run of the season and Jeff Bagwell his fifth for Houston. Orlando Palmeiro had an RBI single in the seventh.

The Astros added two runs in the eighth on a fielding error by St. Louis third baseman Cody McKay, who pinch hit for Rolen in the top half.