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HOUSTON -- When Lance Lynn began to struggle with his control, the Houston Astros made the most of the opportunity. Erik Bedard pitched six effective innings and the Astros used a four-run fourth to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 on Wednesday night. "That was huge for us to capitalize on that inning and really maximize that situation," said Jason Castro, who singled and scored in the rally. Bedard (3-3) allowed seven hits and walked one, but limited St. Louis to three runs. Josh Fields, Wesley Wright and Jose Cisnero then combined to pitch two hitless innings before Jose Veras worked the ninth for his 16th save. Veras yielded a one-out single to Jon Jay and then walked Matt Adams, but pinch hitter Daniel Descalso struck out and Matt Carpenter flied out to end the game. "They did a tremendous job," Houston manager Bo Porter said of his relievers. "Veras ran into a little bit of trouble but was able to make the necessary pitches in the ninth to get out of it and close it out." Allen Craig homered for the second straight night and Yadier Molina had a two-run shot for the Cardinals, who lost for the fourth time in five games. They dropped into a tie with surging Pittsburgh for the lead in the NL Central. Lynn (10-2) allowed five hits, walked four and struck out four over 7 2-3 innings for his first loss in four career starts in Houston. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said it looked as if Lynn lost his rhythm in the fourth. "It wasnt a good inning," Lynn said. "The hits werent the problem -- it was the walks. When you walk people, you get yourself in trouble, and thats what happened. I just didnt throw strikes." Molina and Craig helped the Cardinals get off to a nice start. Molina followed Carpenters leadoff single in the first with a drive to the Crawford Boxes in left field for his sixth homer. Craig had a leadoff drive in the fourth that bounced off the lights atop the wall in left field, extending the lead to 3-0. But Houston responded in the bottom half. Jose Altuve and Castro got it started with back-to-back singles for the Astros first hits of the game. Lynn then walked Chris Carter on four pitches to load the bases before sending a run home when he also walked Carlos Pena on four pitches. Carter leads the majors with 108 strikeouts this season, but Porter was impressed with his patience in the big inning. "His at-bats have gotten extremely disciplined from a standpoint of hes attacking the pitches that he should attack -- not expanding (the zone) as often as he was earlier in the year, and hes putting together some really good at-bats," Porter said. Castro came home when J.D. Martinez grounded into a fielders choice, and Brett Wallace then hit a tying RBI single. After another fielders choice, Brandon Barnes singled in Wallace to give Houston the lead for good. The Astros threatened again in the fifth, putting two runners on with two out, but Lynn retired Martinez to end the inning. That was the first of eight straight batters retired by Lynn, who began the day with a 3-0 record and a 2.00 ERA in three games in Houston. Fields retired the first two St. Louis batters in the seventh before left-hander Wright struck out Carpenter. Cisnero faced the heart of the Cardinals order in the eighth. He got Molina on a groundout before walking Carlos Beltran. He then struck out Craig and Matt Holliday to finish the inning. "That was one of those situations where he pretty much just bulled his neck and said: Im going to throw my best against anybody that steps in the box, and he was able to get it done," Porter said of Cisnero. "I felt like his fastball had really good life, and he actually pumped it up the last couple at 95." NOTES: Molina played first base for the second time in his career and the first since 2008. Matheny said Molina could "probably play just about anywhere on the infield." He said playing him at first base is a good way to give his legs a rest. "Hes caught more innings than any other catcher," Matheny said. "His body has been able to handle it so far, but its going to be a tough task. Were not trying to set any records here, were just reading his body and days like this are going to be able to keep one of the top bats in baseball in the lineup while not beating him up behind the plate." ... Both teams are off Thursday. Houston then begins a series with the Angels and St. Louis starts one at Oakland. ... The Cardinals activated RHP Fernando Salas (right shoulder) from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Memphis. ... Houston RF Justin Maxwell, who got a mild concussion when he hit his head on the ground attempting to make a diving catch on Tuesday, passed his concussion tests on Wednesday. He should be ready to play when the Astros start their series with the Angels Friday. ... Houston RHP Ross Seaton cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double-A Corpus Christi. LHP Wade LeBlanc also cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Buy Shoes Black Friday . LOUIS - Two-thirds of the St. Shoes Black Friday Deals 2020 . The Toronto Blue Jays star won his second consecutive Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive performer in the AL on Monday after votes by fans and a panel of Hall of Famers were tallied. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. China Shoes Black Friday . In this space, I will be writing new and unique pieces about the team that you wont be able to find anywhere else. So naturally, in an attempt to come up with a fresh topic about the Ottawa Senators, I am going to start with a piece about their goaltending. Cheap Shoes Black Friday . Kalish got his first hit since Sept. 11, 2012, when he rapped an RBI triple in the first inning Sunday in the Chicago Cubs 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Rod Hall stormed down the court, determined to send No. 7 Duke to another one-and-done at the ACC tournament. And then Tyler Thornton reached out and came up with the only defensive stop the Blue Devils needed. Duke held on to beat Clemson 63-62 Friday night in the ACC quarterfinals after Rodney Hood hit two free throws with 3.8 seconds left and Thornton came up with his timely stop -- the only one the Blue Devils managed in the last 5 minutes. "We wouldve lost that game a month ago, I think," Hood said. ACC rookie of the year Jabari Parker scored 18 points, and Hood had 17 for the third-seeded Blue Devils (25-7). They blew a 13-point lead with 12 minutes left before regrouping just in time to avoid joining No. 15 North Carolina and No. 11 Syracuse as ACC quarterfinal losers. Duke will play seventh-seeded North Carolina State in a semifinal Saturday. Hall scored 13 points to lead sixth-seeded Clemson (20-12), and his runner in the lane with 7.4 seconds left capped a late 15-5 run and gave the Tigers their only lead of the second half at 62-61. After Hoods free throws, Hall made it deep into the lane before Thornton stripped him a moment before the buzzer sounded. "He was coming so fast, and I was just trying not to hit him on the body," Thornton said. "And then I saw an opportunity to swipe at the ball when he went through, and I hit it." Clemson coach Brad Brownell and the rest of the Tigers staff erupted when no foul was called. Hall said he was hit "on both sides" by two defenders. "I mean, we wasnt getting calls throughout the game," Hall said. "So I didnt know how it was going to go out. Just trying to make a play." Rasheed Sulaimon added 14 points and Amile Jefferson had 13 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who narrowly avoided their third straight post-season loss at the Greensboro Coliseum. They lost their first ACC tournament game here last year to Maryland and before that were memmorably upset by 15th-seeded Lehigh in their NCAA tournament opener in 2012.dddddddddddd All-ACC guard K.J. McDaniels scored 12 points and Jordan Roper added 11 for Clemson, which trailed by nine points with less than 6 minutes remaining before its late run. "In the beginning of the second half, we kind of got a lot of stuff at the rim, and I think we shied away from that," Parker said. "We didnt really get to the line like we wanted to, and we allowed them to take advantage of our bad shots, and they would capitalize on offence when they got on the breaks because they took advantage of the bad shots we took." Damarcus Harrison and Hall hit back-to-back 3s to start the burst in which the Tigers scored on seven straight possessions. McDaniels hit a free throw with 47.7 seconds left to pull Clemson to 61-60. When Sulaimon missed a floater with about 15 seconds left, Landry Nnoko pulled down the rebound and kicked it out to Hall -- who hurried downcourt and hit his runner in the lane to briefly put the Tigers ahead. Hood then flew right back the other way, drew contact from McDaniels while attacking the basket and hit both ends of a one-and-one for the games final points. "I just got eye contact with him when he got the ball, and I said, Go," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I believe in Rodney. You sink or swim with him, and were still swimming. So thank goodness." Nnoko finished with 10 points for Clemson, which won the only regular-season meeting -- a 72-59 romp in January that dropped Duke to 1-2 in the league and caused a significant amount of soul-searching among the Blue Devils. The Tigers shot 67 per cent in the second half of this one to nearly knock them off again. "I couldnt be prouder of my players to show the resiliency we did throughout the game, especially the second half when it looked like we were dead again," Brownell said. "Our guys just had a lot of fight. They just kept coming." ' ' '