Winn delivers in extras as Cardinals sweep Astros

HOUSTON -- Whether it’s hitting home runs, grinding out at-bats or winning a close one late, the Cardinals have found ways to win games so far this season. Sunday was just another example of that.

Masyn Winn hit a bases-clearing double in the 10th inning as St. Louis swept the Astros and won its fifth straight, 7-5, on Sunday at Daikin Park.

After hitting five home runs combined between Friday and Saturday, St. Louis didn’t hit any Sunday, instead working two big innings through walks, singles and doubles.

“You want to be a club that has the ability to win a lot of different ways,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “You don’t want to be just dependent on one thing. I think we showed the ability yesterday with a couple homers [but also] to manufacture runs, be aggressive on the bases, be smart while being aggressive and then playing good defense. We’re going to find a way every night to put pressure on you and peek up after nine to see where we’re at. The club has done a really nice job of that.”

The Cardinals swept a three-game series against the Astros in Houston for the first time since April 20-22, 2004. They swept the Astros in a two-game set in Houston on Aug. 16-17, 2016, and in a three-game series in St. Louis from Sept. 18-20, 2012.

The five-game winning streak is the longest active one in the Majors and longest for the Cards since they won nine straight from May 4-12, 2025. St. Louis improved to 5-0 in extra innings this season as well.

“I think we can play different brands of baseball, but especially, just competing in at-bats – singles and walks and bunts – those things have to be there every day,” Victor Scott II said. “We don’t homer every day, but those things will help us win ballgames along the way.”

After Bryan King loaded the bases with one out in the 10th, Winn, who had three hits, knocked an 0-1 fastball down the left-field line for a three-run double.

“You go back to yesterday with the homer, and he drove in a couple runs the day before, then today, that’s a big swing,” Marmol said. “To get more than one run there was important. Big at-bat for sure.”

Winn, who grew up in the Houston area, played a big role for the Cards all weekend, finishing the series 5-for-15 with a home run and seven RBIs.

“It’s amazing,” Winn said. “Being able to do it in Houston is super special to me. I’m just super psyched about this weekend.”

Mike Burrows retired the first 14 Cardinals he faced before Winn extended his hitting streak to six games with a single through the left side with two outs in the fifth to kick-start a four-run rally.

“We all kind of knew what he was doing,” Winn said. “He had a perfect game up to that point, and I was talking about it as much as I could just trying to jinx it. I was really not trying to do too much. I struck out my first at-bat, so I was trying to put the bat on the ball, and I found a hole.”

Scott drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it, JJ Wetherholt laced a two-run single to right to end Burrows’ afternoon and Iván Herrera greeted reliever Steven Okert with an RBI single through the left side to cap the inning.

“I felt like it kind of ripped the Band-Aid off,” Scott said of Winn’s single that started the rally. “Now, we all are on go. Once someone does it, then the whole team gets in there.”

The offense continued to provide support for the pitching. Matthew Liberatore yielded one run on three hits with four strikeouts in six innings.

“It’s nice to see our offense keep producing the way that it has,” Liberatore said. “It gave me some wiggle room to go out there and go after guys.”

Liberatore rebounded nicely after allowing four runs in five innings in each of his last two starts.

“I’m always trying to stack outings,” Liberatore said. “Today was a good start. It was a great win, a good sweep for us and nice to see us playing this well on the road.”