NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cardinals Finally Hear Alarm, Beat the Cubs

The way Todd Zeile sees it, the St. Louis Cardinals probably should push back their game times.

“We don’t wake up until after the fifth inning,” he said. “After that, we go to work.”

That’s what happened Monday night, when Bernard Gilkey hit an RBI single in the eighth inning and Felix Jose hit a two-run homer off Dave Smith with one out in ninth inning to rally St. Louis past Chicago 3-2.

“We’re getting it down to a science,” Zeile said after the Cardinals sent the Cubs to their fourth consecutive loss.

“We just have to keep battling and bounce back tomorrow,” Chicago manager Don Zimmer said. “The season is only two weeks old. We’ve got a long way to go.”

It was the Cardinals third come-from-behind win when trailing after eight innings. A year ago, the Cardinals were 2-79 in those situations.

“The good thing about this is that it showed them that hard work pays off,” manager Joe Torre said. “That kind of thing is priceless.”

Ray Lankford lined out to open the ninth, but Dave Smith (0-2) walked Pedro Guerrero on five pitches. Jose followed with his second home run of the season.

“It was a pitch I knew I could drive,” Jose said. “He tried to get me out by pitching me away. The pitch was middle inside. I wasn’t thinking home run, but I knew I could drive it and I did.”

Smith, who relieved Paul Assenmacher with one out in the ninth, has blown three saves in seven opportunities.

“It’s lucky that it’s April and we have the rest of the season left,” Smith said. “You have to forget a game like this or you can drive yourself crazy. You learn to make quick adjustments.”

Houston 2, Cincinnati 1--The Houston Astros snapped a streak of 31 consecutive scoreless innings with two runs in the bottom of the ninth off Cincinnati reliever Randy Myers to beat the Reds, 2-1, Monday night.

After Norm Charlton and Myers had shut out the Astros through eight innings, Ken Caminiti singled, pinch-hitter Mark Davidson walked and Luis Gonzalez singled to score pinch-runner Mark McLemore with the tying run.

Myers walked Casey Candaele on four pitches before Karl Rhodes singled to drive in Davidson.

Gonzalez’s hit was his third in his last 26 at-bats. Rhodes, who had three hits, had one hit in his previous 14 at-bats.

Dwayne Henry (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief for the victory, helping the Astros snap a three-game losing streak.