ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said before Friday’s game that he wanted to find an inning somewhere for Jason Motte to make his first appearance since Opening Day’s mushroom cloud. He did with the ninth inning of a two-run game against the Houston Astros.

But Motte didn’t get the whole inning. And he didn’t get the save.

After giving up singles to two of the three Astros he faced, Motte was removed from the game for another ninth-inning option. Second-year reliever Kyle McClellan, who was warming to relieve Dennys Reyes in the ninth inning on Thursday, came in and got the final two outs of Friday’s 5-3 victory against Houston. The save was McClellan’s first of the season and the second of his career.  McClellan had not been mentioned much this spring or early April as a candidate for closer — though he fits squarely in the Cardinals’ closer-by-matchup approach.

McClellan was warming up Thursday in case Reyes ran into trouble. Pitching coach Dave Duncan and La Russa explained McClellan offers an arm that can handle both righthanded hitters, and he had success against lefties last season.

On Friday, McClellan struck out lefthanded-hitter Kaz Matsui and got righthanded-hitter Hunter Pence to bounce into a force out. That ended the game. McClellan’s save cinched a victory earned by Joel Pineiro, who held the Astros to two runs through his 6 2/3 innings. Nineteen of his 20 outs did not leave the infield.

Said La Russa in his post-game presser about his ninth-inning decision: “We had McClellan behind (Motte). … Some day he will look at them, and he won’t laugh at them, but he will learn from them.”

-30-