ST. LOUIS -- The offensive output wasn’t exactly overwhelming in the Astros’ 5-3 loss to the Cardinals on Friday. But if the look is lasting, Houston will take its chances as it marches toward another postseason appearance.

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With Carlos Correa returning from the 60-day injured list on Friday, the Astros boasted a full-strength lineup for the first time since May 10. That was the day José Altuve suffered a hamstring strain, beginning a cascade of injuries that would catch George Springer, Aledmys Díaz and Correa in the ensuing weeks.

Houston weathered their absences remarkably well, going 42-23 since that date in May and never relinquishing its hold on the division lead. Moving forward with an offense at full strength, the Astros only envision tightening that grip.

“This is a fun lineup to write,” manager AJ Hinch said on Friday. “It feels like our team is back together again.”

The Astros caught glimpses of what that could mean moving forward, though a few blips by the bullpen spoiled their chances to turn Michael Brantley’s three-RBI night into the team’s eighth win in nine games. Ryan Pressly’s appearance, in particular, left the club with some lingering concern that he may not yet be past a right knee ailment that had limited him to one outing in the previous eight days.

His performance on Friday “didn’t look right” from the get-go, Hinch acknowledged. Staked to a one-run lead in the eighth, Pressly walked the leadoff hitter, allowed a double to the next one and then left a curveball over the plate that Paul Goldschmidt crushed just far enough to clear the center-field wall.

Goldschmidt’s homer, his fifth in as many days, gave St. Louis its first lead of the night. As for Pressly, he’s expected to have the knee re-evaluated. Pressly informed a team spokesperson afterward that he would speak to the media Saturday. In the meantime, Hinch didn’t disguise his concern.

“We’re very concerned about that,” he said of Pressly’s knee, which has been a bother since he took a comebacker off it July 18. “It just looked like he was a little bit off.”

While the Astros wait to see what effect that may have on the team’s bullpen plans for the rest of the series, they do continue forward knowing that at least one area of the club is once again complete. Well, almost.

The absence of a designated hitter in the three-game series at Busch Stadium knocked Yordan Alvarez out of the lineup, though he did come through with a double in his first career pinch-hit appearance to spark the Astros’ eighth-inning rally. Houston went on to load the bases for Brantley, who, four innings after blasting a two-run homer, drew a four-pitch walk to push in the go-ahead run.

Behind him, Correa struck out to strand the bases full, capping an 0-for-4 night in his return. The headline, though, was simply that he was back.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost two months,” Correa said. “It feels great to be with the guys again. You create an atmosphere here as a family, and you spend 50 games not playing with them, you start missing it a lot. It’s just good to be healthy again and to be able to be back with the squad.”

His presence is poised to lengthen a lineup that, once Alvarez resumes his DH duties, will likely feature a player who has hit 15 home runs and tallied 33 RBIs in the past 34 games somewhere in the bottom third. That’d be Yuli Gurriel, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games on Friday.

“The lineup is incredibly long,” Hinch said. “You’re going to start seeing Josh Reddick hitting seventh, eighth or ninth, and the catcher, [Max] Stassi or [Robinson] Chirinos, hitting eighth or ninth. Potentially Yuli down there toward the bottom of the order, which is unheard of given he’s got to be the favorite for the player of the month. There’s a lot to like about this lineup when we get it all together.”