Mac's 30th Helps Lift Cards

Even when they fell behind early, Jim Edmonds and the St. Louis Cardinals figured everything would turn out OK.

"You keep winning and you keep winning and that's what it's all about," said Edmonds, who doubled twice and drove in two runs Saturday during a 10-9 win over the Houston Astros.

Despite allowing 15 hits, four of them homers, and committing three errors, the Cardinals managed to find a way to win Saturday.

Mark McGwire hit his major league-leading 30th home run and Fernando Tatis homered for the first time since coming off the disabled list to power St. Louis. The Cardinals spotted the Astros a 7-3 lead after three innings before coming back to win.

The Cardinals have won nine of 12 and lead Cincinnati by 9 1/2 games in the NL Central.

"We gutted this one out," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.

For the Astros, it was a familiar story line.

"It gets to the point where you're not surprised," said Houston manager Larry Dierker. "When you get nine runs and 15 hits, most of the time you're going to win."

McGwire hit the first pitch he saw from Octavio Dotel for a three-run shot in the first inning. He reached the 30-homer mark for the 11th time in his career.

Big Mac became the first player ever to have 30 hmers at the All-Star break four times. Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr., who has 26 home runs this year, onsecutive home runs with one out in the third to make it 7-3.

The Cardinals began their comeback in the fourth by scoring three times on Paquette's homer, an RBI single by Drew and Edmonds' RBI double.

Edmonds tied it at 7 in the sixth with a double over Hidalgo's head in center.

Houston made it 10-8 on an RBI double by Hidalgo in the seventh.

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