The Astros had a very nice run and with five straight wins, the showed they might contend in the Central this year. The bad news is, after the five wins, the Astros lost two straight and dropped their three game series with the first place Brewers. So the Astros are in second place, which is better then before, but they’re a game and a half back of first when they could have been closer had they pulled out another win.
Craig Biggio hit a huge grand slam homer in the ninth inning on Friday to put the Astros up 6-2. They ended up needing each of those runs because Bill Hall hit a three run shot in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 6-5 ball game. Fortunately, that’s as far as the Brewers got as the Astros won their only gave up the series. Matt Albers had a nice start and he gave up two runs in six innings and it was Brad Lidge who gave up the three run shot in the ninth.
It went downhill from there as Wandy Rodriguez was hit hard in Saturday’s game. He gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in six innings and the loss dropped him to 0-2 on the season. Lance Berkman drew three walks and Morgan Ensberg went yard in the 6-4 loss.
Yesterday’s game was another close and while the Astros scored three in the ninth, that just made it 4-3 as they came a run short. Ensberg had two hits and an RBI and Lance Berkman doubled, scored a run and drove in one. Roy Oswalt lost his first game of the season and he gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts in seven innings.
The Astros have a makeup game against the Phillies this evening and then they head across the state for three games against the Pirates. Chris Sampson will try to improve on his 2-0 record and the Astros will try to knock around Adam Eaton.
