Kyle Lohse continued to mow down hitters and Matt Holliday went 3-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 6-5 victory over the host Houston Astros on Wednesday.

Tyler Greene added a solo shot and Lance Berkman chipped in two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who nearly repeated a ninth-inning meltdown from Tuesday.

Lohse (4-1) followed up a two-hit shutout last time out with seven scoreless innings against the Astros, yielding four hits while striking out a pair. The veteran righthander has allowed two runs or less in each of his last four starts as he makes his way back from an injury-plagued 2010 campaign.

J.A. Happ (1-4) allowed solo home runs to Holliday and Greene in five innings and St. Louis broke it open with four runs in the seventh - all on RBI singles.

The Cardinals bullpen was shaky again, as Ryan Franklin, Trevor Miller and Fernando Salas combined to allow three runs in the eighth.

Rookie Eduardo Sanchez got the call to save the game in the ninth and surrendered two more runs before managing to leave the tying run on second base for his first save.