HOUSTON — Mark DeRosa hopes he's finally broken out of the slump that's followed his wrist injury.
DeRosa homered twice at Minute Maid Park for the second time this season and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Astros 7-3 on Monday night, a few hours after Houston fired Manager Cecil Cooper.
DeRosa hurt his left wrist on June 30 and has said he'll need surgery after the season. He hadn't homered since Aug.7 and drove in four runs for the first time since before the injury.
"A lot's been made of my wrist and I understand that," he said.
"I've alsofelt terrible at the plate from a fundamental side. After I hurt myself, I tried to compensate and cheat and try different things. Finally, over the last two to three days, I've gotten in the cage and grinded it out."
DeRosa said it's just a coincidence that he had a breakout game in Houston, where he also hit two home runs against the Astros in July.
"You have certain parks that you hit better at," DeRosa said. "I don't really think much about it."
DeRosa spoiled Dave Clark's major-league managing debut for the Astros. Clark, Cooper's third base coach, was named Houston's interim manager for the last two weeks of the regular season, but the Astros lost their eighth consecutive.
"I expected to win, but it's been a pretty hectic day," Clark said. "This is bittersweet, but I enjoyed what I was doing and I look forward to the last 12 days."
DeRosa also had a two-run double for the Cardinals, who reduced their magic number for winning theNL Central to three.
Kyle Lohse (6-8) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings to earn his first victory since Aug. 10. Lohse has been coping with a nagging forearm injury and skipped his last turn in the rotation as a result.
He was encouraged after allowing three runs and five hits in six innings.
"I didn't really have any issues with it," Lohse said of the injury. "Mentally, I was locked in a lot better. I wasn't getting frustrated by not putting the ball where I wanted to. All-around, I felt a lot better."
Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez (13-11) had given up no more than one run in 11 of his previous 14 starts, but trailed 3-0 after the first inning in this one.
Albert Pujols doubled to right center with two outs and scored on Matt Holliday's single to left. Ryan Ludwick singled and DeRosa drove in two with a double off the rightfield wall. Ludwick beat the throw home, but DeRosa was tagged out trying to stretch his hit to a triple.
Miguel Tejada homered off Lohse in the bottom of the first, his 12th.
Jason LaRue and Skip Schumaker led off the second with singles and LaRue scored on Julio Lugo's fly ball to right. Brendan Ryan beat out an infield single and Schumaker scored for a 5-1 lead.
DeRosa homered to left in the third off Rodriguez, who came in with a 1.58 ERA at home this season. The 30-year-old left-hander was missing with his breaking ball, the pitch that's carried him all season.
"Just a couple of mistakes," he said. "I didn't have control of my breaking ball. I missed a lot."
BRAVES 11, METS 3
Chipper Jones homered and drove in four runs to lead host Atlanta past New York. Garret Anderson and Matt Diaz also connected for the Braves, who have won nine of 11 to move within five games of idle Colorado for the NL wild-card lead with 12 games left.
CUBS 10, BREWERS 2
Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs and Tom Gorzelanny tied a career high with nine strikeouts for host Chicago in its victory over Milwaukee. Lee drove in four runs and Ramirez drove in two more. Mike Cameron hit two home runs off Gorzelanny (6-2), who pitched five innings.
PADRES 11, PIRATES 6 Chase Headley's career-high fifth hit of the game drove in the go ahead run in the 11th inning for San Diego in its third consecutive victory over host Pittsburgh. Headley hit his third double of the game off Jeff Karstens (3-5) in the 11th to drive in Everth Cabrera and give the Padres, who saw their bullpen blow a 6-2 lead in the eighth inning, their eighth victory in 12 games. Headley hit his 12th home run, and Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Hundley alsohit home runs for San Diego.
American League ROYALS 12, RED SOX 9 Mike Jacobs hit a three-run home run and Alberto Callaspo's two-run double keyed host Kansas City's biggest inning in almost a year, rallying the Royals past Boston. After falling behind 6-0 in the third and 8-2 in the fifth, the Royals seized an 11-9 lead with six runs in the sixth, the most they've scored in one inning since Sept. 24, 2008.
TWINS 7, WHITE SOX 0 Nick Blackburn pitched seven innings and Minnesota continued its late surge with a victory over host Chicago. The Twins, who have won five of six, moved within 2 1 /2 games of first-place Detroit, which was idle, in the AL Central. Blackburn (11-11) allowed eight singles with no walks and six strikeouts to earn his first road victory since May 31 against Tampa Bay. He is 4-1 this season against Chicago.
BLUE JAYS 9, ORIOLES 2 Lyle Overbay and John McDonald homered, David Purcey won for the first time in more than a year and host Toronto beat Baltimore, handing the Orioles their fifth consecutive loss. Purcey (1-2) had not won since pitching eight shutout innings on Sept. 7, 2008, against Tampa Bay. The left-hander allowed one run and four hits in a season-high 7 2 /3 innings. He walked four and struck out four.
Monday's games NATIONAL LEAGUE San Diego 11, Pittsburgh 6, 11 innings Atlanta 11, NY Mets 3 Chicago Cubs 10, Milwaukee 2 St. Louis 7, Houston 3 San Francisco at Arizona, (n) AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto 9, Baltimore 2 Kansas City 12, Boston 9 Minnesota 7, Chicago White Sox 0 NY Yankees at LA Angels, (n) Texas at Oakland, (n)
Sports, Pages 13, 16 on 09/22/2009