Houston put together another 1-2 record over thier weekend stanza with a split-squad game on Saturday against Atlanta and Cleveland, and a Sunday game vs. the Mets. The weekend play brings the Astros overall record to 8-12 and putting them in 14th place in the Grapefruit league.
Saturdays first game took place in Kissimmee and had Houston going against the Braves. The ‘Stros showed a little bit of everything in this one with an offensive explosion and a very strong showing from starter Roy Oswalt. To be exact he went 6 innings deep, giving up no hits, walking none, striking out 7, and dropping his ERA to 2.40. On the offensive side they had their best game of spring training scoring 15 runs with a 5 run 5th inning and a 6 run 8th. Several players came through with productive games including Ty Wiggington, Brad Ausmus, and Jose Cruz. Wiggington went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, Ausmus went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Cruz went 1-for-2 with 1 RBI, 3 runs, and was walked 3 times. The only home run of the game came from 1st basemen Lance Berkman in the 5th inning off reliever Ryan Drese. The only sour note for Houston came from reliever Doug Brocail who went only 1 inning but gave up 5 hits, 5 runs, all of which were earned which made his ERA skyrocket to 19.50. Even with his poor performance the ‘Stros managed to win by 9 runs, final score 15-6, tallying 16 hits in the process.
The second game on Saturday took place in Wood Haven, Florida with the Astros facing the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately Houston ended up on the wrong side of this one getting blown out 14-6. Giving up two 4 run innings and a 5 run 5th in the process. It was actually a pretty solid showing from the bats getting 15 hits, but the pitching was awful giving up 18 hits of their own. So bad in fact that relievers Hernandez and McLemore gave up 10 runs, all of which were earned in just 3.2 innings. Hernandez went 3 innings giving up 8 hits, 6 runs and he gave up 2 homers to Marte and Gonzalez in the 5th. McLemore continued his struggles this spring training going just .2 innings giving up 4 hits, 4 runs, all of which were earned, and 2 walks pushing his ERA to 12.91. If not for the bad pitching Houston might have had a chance in this one but, it wasn’t the case, Final score 14-6.
In the final game of the weekend Houston was matched up against the Mets and put together a very even match. Both teams put together 8 hits, the difference being the 5 run inning the ‘Stros gave up in the 5th. Starter Chris Sampson gave up the bulk of the runs going 4.1 innings deep, giving up 5 hits, 5 runs, all of which were earned, bringing his ERA all the way up to 10.61. The most positive performances came from Lance Berkman and Jose Cruz. Berkman went 1-for-3 with 1 RBI and a homer, and Cruz went 1-for-2 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Good showing for the home team, if not for the 5 run 5th, Final score 6-4.
