Houston lost on Monday in the 1st game of the scheduled 3 against the red hot Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-5. The loss is their 3rd straight and has seemingly negated the previous 6 game winning streak that brought them to .500. The Astros record is now 12-15 and they continue to slip away from NL central contention.
The offense seemed to struggle in this one only collecting 5 hits but 3 of them were doubles. Miguel Tejada was on of the hitters that recorded a double getting his 8th of the year. He went 1-for-4 getting his 21st RBI of the season and now has his batting average at .337. Carlos Lee also hit his 8th double of the season going 1-for-4 with a run scored. The 3rd double came from speedy Michael Bourn who also went 1-for-4 with a run scored. With the kind of speed that Bourn has you’d expect to see more then 2 doubles in his stat sheet but due to his inability to hit, batting just .198 this season, he’s had some trouble getting on base. But, to his defense, when he gets on base he makes opposing pitchers pay with his Major League leading 13 steals.
Chris Sampson took the hill for the Astro’s and had a rough night of work. He only pitched 4 1/3rd innings giving up 7 hits, 5 runs, all earned, and 2 walks. He was given the loss in the game bringing his record to 1-3 and brought his ERA up 7.15. Dan Haren started for the D-Backs and was pretty much lights out going 7 2/3rds innings giving up just 5 hits, 3 runs, and 5 K’s. He earned the win for his team and now has a record of 4-1 with a 3.13 ERA.
Houston just put together a lackluster performance from both pitchers and hitters. An improvement will be necessary if the Astros want to hit the .500 plateau and then elevate above it.
