MLB: St. Louis 11, Houston 2

HOUSTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Mark DeRosa and Yadier Molina each drove in a pair of runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals in a 11-2 drubbing of Houston Tuesday.

The win chipped the Cardinals' magic number in the National League Central to two games.

Colby Rasmus hit his 16th home run of the season as part of a 15-hit St. Louis attack.

Joel Pineiro (15-11) got the win with seven solid innings. Pineiro, the third St. Louis starter to reach 15 wins this season, held the Astros to one run on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

Yorman Bazardo (0-2) took the loss after being roughed up for six runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The contest was largely over before Houston put up their first run. The Astros trailed 6-0 in the fourth inning, when Geoff Blum brought in Miguel Tejada with a sacrifice fly. Tejada drove in Houston's other run with an RBI double in the eighth to make it 10-2.