Hunter Pence hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that barely got over the wall as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs by the score of 4-0 to even their three game series at 1-1.  It was nice to see the Astros beat the Cubs, but I still would have like to see some more runs scored in the game.

Pence’s four rbi’s were all the Astros ended up needing in the game.  It would have still been nice to see more runs put up on the scoreboard however.  The Astros just don’t seem to have that “knockout” punch that other teams do.

Chris Sampson did pick up the win after pitcher 7 2/3 innings and giving up seven hits and two runs.  Sampson did give up a two run home run to Aramis Ramirez but other then that he was pretty good as he picked up his third win of the season.

Doug Brocail pitched 1 1/3 innings before turning things over to Jose Valverde to pick up his 13th save of the season.

The Astros will try for the series win tomorrow as they face the Astros once again.  Astros Blog

Carlos Lee had a two run double in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros the lead and finished with three RBI while Lance Berkman went 5-5 with one RBI and the Astros defeated the Washington Nationals 6-5.

Without Lee’s and Berkman’s at bats, the Astros would have more the likely lost to the Nationals who whit three home runs off of Astros pitchers.  Hunter Pence also had one RBI to help out the Astros who improved to 17-16 on the season.

Starting pitcher Shawn Chacon pitched seven inning and gave up eight hits and four runs to get the no decision.  Chacon did give up home runs to Nick Johnson and Aaron Boone.  Doug Brocail ended up getting the win after pitching one inning and even giving up a home run to Austin Kearns.  Jose Valverde pitched the ninth inning to get his seventh save of the season.  The pitching staff got very lucky as all three home runs by the Nationals were solo home runs.  The came would have been much different if any runners would have been on base.

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The Houston Astros put up six quick runs on the Arizona Diamondbacks as they won 6-4 on Tuesday night.  It was a good thing they got to Diamondbacks starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez early, because Max Scherzer then came in to make hia major league debut and struckout seven batters over 4.1 innings.

Geoff Blum had three RBI to lead the Astros at the plate.  Blum had a bases loaded double that cleared the bases in the third inning.  Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, and J.R. Towles all had one RBI each for the Astros as well.  Tejada’s and Lee’s RBI’s came in the first inning while Towles had a RBI double in the third inning.

Starting pitcher Jack Cassel pitched 4.2 innings to get the no decision.  Cassel didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up four hits and three runs in his four plus innings of action.  Doug Brocail ended up getting his first win of the season as he pitched in relief.  Jose Valverde recorded his fifth save of the season when he shut the door on the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning.

Great win for the Astros, as they beat a red hot Diamondbacks team.  Lets see if they can do it again on Wednesday.

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Lance Berkman led the Houston Astros over the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 5-3 on Thursday afternoon.  Berkman had three RBI including a two run home run in the first inning that got the scoring going.

Besides Berkman’s three RBI, Jack Cassel and Darin Erstad both had an RBI each.

Cassel also picked up the win for the Astros as he tossed five innings of seven hit baseball.  He did allow three earned runs in his five innings of action.  Tim Byrdak, Doug Brocail, and Jose Valverde pitched the final four innings.  Valverde got back on track as he picked up his third save of the season.

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The Houston Astros gave up four runs in the eigth inning to let the San Diego Padres back in the game, but then they quickly came right back and got those four runs back and went onto beat the Padres 11-7 on Tuesday night.

Kaz Matsui had a single in the eigth inning that scored the go ahead runs as he finished with two RBI on the night.  Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, and Hunter Pence all had two RBI as well.  Darin Erstad, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum all had one RBI.  Blum and Pence both hit long balls for the Astros.

On the mound for the Astros, Jose Valverde picked up the win to improve his record to 3-1 on the season.  It was nice to see Valverde not blow a game!  Brandon Backe had started the game and pitched seven innings while giving up four hits and three earned runs.  Doug Brocail sucked it up as he gave up four hits and four earned runs while only recording one out in relief of Backe.

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