The Houston Astros host the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night in the opener of the teams’ only series of the season. First pitch is set for 8:10 p.m. ET at Houston, with Space City Home Network carrying the game.
The matchup comes at a sharp moment for both clubs. The Cardinals enter at 10-8 and a half-game behind first place in the NL Central after winning two in a row, while the Astros are 8-12 overall and have gone 7-3 at home despite a rough 1-9 road mark.
St. Louis arrives in better form after beating the Cleveland Guardians 5-3 on Wednesday. Jordan Walker stretched his hitting streak to 11 games, Nathan Church had three hits and Alec Burleson drove in two runs. Dustin May helped set the tone by pitching six innings and allowing one run, giving the Cardinals another look of a club that is finding timely production from the middle and bottom of the order.
Kyle Leahy gets the ball for St. Louis. He is 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP in 14 innings across three starts. The Astros will counter with Peter Lambert, who will make his first start of the season after going 2-5 in 28 games pitched in 2024.
Houston needs a clean start at home after losing to the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in Thursday’s series finale. The Astros have not been able to build much early momentum this season, and Friday gives them a chance to steady an 8-12 record against a Cardinals team that has been tougher to put away lately.
The setting gives the game some extra edge. This is the first and only cardinals vs astros series of the year, so there will not be another chance for either club to adjust within a season-long rematch. For St. Louis, the opportunity is to keep climbing in the NL Central. For Houston, it is to protect home field and start turning a disappointing start into something more stable.
