Astros hold off Cardinals

Yainer Diaz homered for the second consecutive game and the Houston Astros held off a late charge from the visiting St. Louis Cardinals for an 8-5 win on Tuesday.

Diaz capped a four-run third inning with his fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot to right field that gave the Astros a 6-1 lead. Diaz hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning Monday that carried Houston to victory in the series opener.

Despite that cushion, the Astros needed insurance runs in the fourth and seventh innings Tuesday to keep the Cardinals at bay. Jeremy Pena drove in Alex Bregman with a sacrifice fly in the fourth to give Houston a 7-2 lead and Victor Caratini knocked in Jake Meyers to push the Astros' lead to 8-5 in the seventh.

Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with his eighth home run in the first inning. Astros rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti, who gave up the homer, departed after three innings with a left calf contusion sustained when Ivan Herrera hit a comebacker off Arrighetti's leg in the second.

Arrighetti allowed one run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Cardinals starter Andre Pallante (1-2) allowed six runs, six hits and three walks with a strikeout in three innings.

Masyn Winn, who finished 3-for-3, hit a two-run homer, his third of the year, in the sixth off Astros left-handed reliever Parker Mushinski. Nolan Gorman added his fourth homer in three games and his 14th of the season an inning later off Astros right-hander Seth Martinez to slice the deficit to 7-5.

The Cardinals loaded the bases later in the seventh, but Astros reliever Bryan Abreu retired Brendan Donovan on a called third strike to escape the threat.

Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Pena recorded two hits apiece for the Astros. Bregman scored three runs and added a walk. Pena finished 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs.

Houston right-hander Ryan Pressly worked a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the year. Tayler Scott (2-2) earned the win in relief.