The Cardinals worked over Castillo to the point that the righthander required 52 pitches to escape the first two innings.
The 50th of those pitches was a 3-0 fastball to Fowler with two on and two out in the second inning. Instead of having Fowler potentially walk to load the bases, the Cardinals had flashed the hit sign to the veteran outfielder. Hit he did, launching his 14th homer, a three-run shot to right center, that gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.
The Cardinals, who had only two hits off Sonny Gray and successors on Thursday night, will take on fellow All-Star Luis Castillo, who has an 11-4 mark and 2.