HOUSTON (AP) -- It's not good to get into a home run contest with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Houston Astros matched them in homers and they still lost the game.

Mark McGwire homered for the third straight game, and Edgar Renteria and Ray Lankford hit consecutive homers off Jose Lima, leading the Cardinals over the Astros 8-7 Monday night.

	Mark McGwire homered for the third game in a row, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead in the first.

St. Louis, tied with Arizona for the best record in the major leagues at 6-1, has 20 homers, most in the big leagues. In Enron Field's fourth game, the teams combined for eight home runs, two more than the previous record for a major league game in Houston.

"There are some American League parks like this that give you some breaks," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I really don't think you can judge this park until we've played in it longer."

McGwire homered in his 35th major league ballpark, one shy of the record held by Tampa Bay's Fred McGriff. McGwire has 525 career homers and needs nine to tie Jimmie Foxx for ninth on the career list.

McGwire declined interviews, saying "too many other guys on this team had great games tonight."

Lima (1-1), a frequent victim of the long ball, allowed his first three homers of the year after giving up 34 in 1998 and 30 last season.

J.D. Drew hit his fourth of the season, a two-run drive off Jose Cabrera in the eighth.

"He's a little more experienced so he's a little better," La Russa said. "He survived last year and he's a little better. They worked him over and he still hit .240. Guys hit below .200 in this league. He didn't."

Daryle Ward had his first career multihomer game for Houston, and Craig Biggio and Richard Hidalgo also connected.

Before 36,234, about 6,000 short of capacity, Jim Edmonds went 4-for-4 for the Cardinals, matching his career high for hits.

"It's a hitter's park. What can you say?" Edmonds said. "I got some pitches to hit today and they fell in. This is a great team. With this lineup, you'll see some pitches. It's a good win, but we've got 150-something left."

La Russa is glad to have Edmonds on his side.

"He's a guy who can beat you with all the tools," La Russa said. "He takes pride in his defense. He stole a base. You watch him in batting practice. He uses the whole field."

Pat Hentgen (2-0) allowed three runs and four hits in six innings, and Dave Veres got three outs for his second save. With the potential tying run on first and two outs in the ninth, pinch-runner Glen Barker was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Mike Matheny.

"The offense came through and did a great job, one through nine," Hentgen said. "I made some good pitches and a couple of bad pitches and they left the ballpark."

Lima gave up five runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out eight.

"Tonight taught me a lesson," he said. "Even if you give up several runs, we're going to score some runs, so I'm not going to worry if I give up a few. In my opinion, this is a beautiful field, but it's worse than Coors Field for pitchers. You can see the smiles on the hitters faces when they come up to the plate. A lot of those home runs, in other major league stadiums would be routine fly balls."

St. Louis led 8-3 in the eighth, but Houston closed when Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run double off Heathcliff Slocumb and Ward followed with a two-run homer.

Ward hit a solo homer in the second, but St. Louis made it 5-1 in the third on Renteria's two-run homer and Lankford's shot, both over the short left-field porch.

Biggio homered in the sixth and Hidalgo connected in the seventh, chasing Hentgen and making it 5-3.

But Craig Paquette hit an RBI triple in the eighth off Cabrera. Drew's homer gave him four long balls among his five hits this year.

Astros manager Larry Dierker said the game came down to Barker's attempted steal.

"It was a wild game. You're probably going to see a lot of those here," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "I don't feel like we're ever out of it. It came down to out or safe and I thought he had his hand under."

Game notes
Bagwell, who entered hitting .200 in the first six games, shaved off most of the lengthy goatee that had been the talk and photo-op of spring training. He went 2-for-4. ... With a win Tuesday, St. Louis would match its best eight-game record (1986). ... Hentgen boosted his career road record to 59-23. ... The Cardinals have hit consecutive homers three times this season. ... Previously, the record for home runs at Houston was six, which occurred five times, most recently last Aug. 9 in a game involving the New York Mets.