HOUSTON — Facing a starter making his season debut Friday night at Daikin Park, the Cardinals' offense got off the ground early to take a lead against the Astros. And late-inning blasts by two bats looking to lift their production added to it.

Clinging to a 4-3 lead through six innings in a series-opening matchup vs. Houston, the Cardinals received an additional three runs from Nolan Gorman on a three-run homer in the seventh inning. They got another two runs from Ivan Herrera's two-run homer in the eighth to help secure them a 9-4 win over the Astros, and starter Kyle Leahy his second win of the season after the right-hander completed five innings and allowed three runs on 83 pitches.

The home run from Gorman marked his third of the season and first since March 30. For Herrera, the home run was his second of the season and second in his last three games. Both Gorman and Herrera entered the series opener vs. the Astros with batting averages below .210.

The two-run homer from Herrera, who entered Friday batting .194, highlighted a two-hit night that also included an RBI single in the fourth inning against Astros starter Peter Lambert, who was called up from Class AAA on Friday to make the start.

Cardinals hitters combined for seven hits but struck out eight times against Lambert in his five-inning debut. Three of those strikeouts came by Gorman, who did not put a ball in play until his seventh-inning home run off reliever Bryan Abreu.

The Cardinals (11-8) pushed across four runs against Lambert with RBIs from Herrera, Jordan Walker (1 for 3) and Houston area native Masyn Winn, who drove in two runs in the third inning.

Behind Leahy (2-2), the Cardinals received scoreless outings from lefties Justin Bruihl (one inning) and JoJo Romero (one inning). Brought in to pitch the eighth inning, former Astro Ryne Stanek managed to allow just one run in the frame, during which Houston loaded the bases with two outs.

George Soriano worked a scoreless ninth inning against the Astros' top three hitters to secure the win.

Solo homers hurt Leahy

Through his first three starts of the season, Leahy limited opposing hitters to one home run across 14 innings of work. A pair of elevated pitches that Christian Vazquez and Jose Altuve swatted to left field, and a curveball to Yordan Alvarez lifted to right field added to that total.

The first of the three homers allowed by Leahy came in the third inning, when a 2-1 fastball thrown up and in was pulled to left field from Vazquez. That at-bat began with Leahy landing a fastball near the same location as the one Vazquez homered on.

Having shown Alvarez his curveball twice during their first encounter in the first inning, Leahy opened his second at-bat vs. the power-hitting lefty with the same pitch. Only this time, the curveball Alvarez took for a ball and fouled off in the first inning was pulled 357 feet to right field in the third inning for Alvarez’s eighth homer on the season.

Following a fourth inning that ended with Leahy striking out Isaac Paredes with the bases loaded, the Cardinals' right-hander was hit hard once again.

Leahy got ahead of Altuve by getting him to foul off a curveball and getting an awkward whiff on a sweeper. But when he went back to his sweeper in a 2-2 count, Leahy left it elevated to the former American League MVP, who swatted it 384 feet to left field for the third homer Leahy gave up in the outing.

Two out offense

In back-to-back innings, the Cardinals did not let scoring opportunities go to waste.

Playing in front of several family members Friday night, Houston area native Winn added to the Cardinals’ early lead in the third inning after Lambert nearly wiggled his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam.

After Lambert loaded the bases by hitting two batters and walking a third, the right-hander recorded swinging strikeouts of Walker and Gorman. Winn fell behind, 0-2, to Lambert but watched two fastballs and ducked a slurve that nearly hit him to bring the count full before pulling a cutter to left field to expand the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0.

An inning later, Pedro Pages doubled and reached third base on a throwing error from left fielder Joey Loperfido to lead off the inning. Lambert struck out Victor Scott II and got JJ Wetherholt to ground out to put him one out away of escaping a jam.

In this frame, it was Ivan Herrera who provided a two-out RBI.

Herrera lined a single to center field on the second pitch he saw to provide the Cardinals’ fourth run of the night.

Walker extends streak

Arriving at Daikin Park as one of the MLB’s hottest hitters, Walker wasted little time in extending his hitting streak to 12 games. The 23-year-old took a fastball for a strike against the right-hander making his debut. He followed that with producing one of the hardest hit balls of the night.

On a 0-1 fastball from Lambert, Walker lined a single to center field that had a 114.7 mph exit velocity. The single scored Wetherholt from third base after he had reached on an infield single to open the frame and advanced to third on a one-out single from Alec Burleson.

Walker’s hit gives him a hit in each game he’s played in since April 4. He entered Friday’s series-opener batting .370 and slugging .848 over 46 at-bats in the first 11 games of the hitting streak.

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