The Astros took game 1 of a scheduled 3 against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in a 7-4 win. The bats were definitely hot in this one with Houston recording 5 homers on Brew Crew pitchers. The win gives the ‘Stros a 14-16 record and keeps them 4th place in the NL Central.
The bats were smokin’ in tonights game as the Astros collected 12 hits, half of which were for extra bases. The ball seemed to be cruising out of the ball park with back-to-back-to-back jacks in the bottom of the 6th inning off Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva. Hunter Pence wasn’t a contributor in the 6th inning but did pitch in with a homer in the 5th and another in the 8th. Pence went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. The two jacks are his 2nd and 3rd of the season and his batting average is now at .260. Miguel Tejada did get a hold of one in the 6th going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. He is now absolutely killing the ball hitting .350 with 5 homers this season and 24 RBI. Lance Berkman also homered in the 6th hitting 1-of-4 for the game with 1 RBI and a run scored. He has 9 homers this season with 26 RBI and batting at a .295 clip. Carlos Lee was the final batter to homer in the 6th going 2-for-4 in the game with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. He now has 7 homers with 17 RBI and batting at a solid .270.
Roy Oswalt took the mound for his ball club looking to bring his record to .500 with a victory in this game. He did just that working 6 innings allowing 6 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks and 6 K’s. He earned the win for the Astros making his record 3-3 after starting the season with 3 straight losses. Jose Valverde came in to close out the game and earned his 6th save of the season striking out 2 Milwaukee batters in the process. Geoff Geary and Doug Brocail both earned holds in this game for the 2 innings of scoreless baseball they both pitched.
A great win against a team that is now just 2.5 games above the ‘Stros for claim of 3rd place in the NL Central. The Astros have now improved to 6-4 over their last 10 games and have definitely shown improvements over the course of this young season.
