Cards back Sonny Gray's scoreless start, pound Astros

Nolan Arenado had a homer, two doubles and two RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals past the visiting Houston Astros 8-3 on Monday.

Brendan Donovan went 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI triple for the Cardinals, extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

Pedro Pages hit a two-run double for St. Louis, which collected 14 hits and has won three of its last four. Lars Nootbaar went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (3-0) blanked the Astros for seven innings on three hits. He struck out four and walked one.

Jeremy Pena provided Houston's scoring with a three-run homer. Astros starter Framber Valdez (1-2) allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits in four-plus innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Valdez escaped a second-inning jam after Arenado hit a leadoff double and went to third on Donovan's single. Valdez struck out Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman before retiring Pages on a flyout.

The Cardinals moved ahead 1-0 in the third. Nootbaar walked, went to third on a hit-and-run single by Luken Baker and scored on Willson Contreras' forceout grounder.

St. Louis pushed its lead to 4-0 in the fourth. Donovan hit a leadoff single and went to third on Walker's ground-rule double. With one out, Pages hit his two-run double. With two outs, Nootbaar hit an RBI single.

The Cardinals made it 7-0 in the fifth. Contreras hit a leadoff single and scored on Arenado's double. Donovan followed with an RBI triple to chase Valdez. Gorman capped the outburst with a sacrifice fly.

Arenado's homer made it 8-0 in the seventh.

Pena's three-run homer put the Astros on the board in the ninth.

--Field Level Media