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

The Houston Astros fell to the Chicago Cubs by the score of 7-2 on Monday night.  The loss put the Astros 3.5 games behind the Cubs in the division standings.

Brian Moehler pitched five innings while giving up seven hits and three runs to take the loss.  Moehler is now 1-1 on the season.  Tim Byrdak pitched a scoreless inning of relief after Moehler exited.  That is when the wheels came off for the Astros bullpen.  Fernando Nieve and Wesley Wright both gave up one run each before Dave Borkowski gave up two runs on a home run.

Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence each had a rbi in the game for the Astros.  Lee had a rbi single in the fourth inning while Pence had a rbi single in the fifth inning.  Other then that, the Astros struck out nine times in the game.

The Astros will need to have a better showing tomorrow unless they want to fall 4.5 games behind the Cubs.  Astros Blog

The Houston Astros rallied to score all seven of their runs in the sixth through eighth inning as they defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-3.  The Astros pushed across three runs in the sixth and eighth innings and one run in the seventh inning. Two Giants errors really helped the astros out in the eighth inning as well.

Lance Berkman provided a two run shot to lead the Astros with two rbi.  Hunter Pence, Miguel Tejada, and Jose Cruz Jr. all had one rbi each in the game.

Roy Oswalt pitched eight innings to pick up the win for the Astros.  Oswalt gave up five hits and three runs while improving his record to 4-3 on the season.

Geoff Geary recorded the first two outs in the ninth inning before Jose Valverde was brought in to get the final out and pick up his ninth save of the season.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros were going for the three game sweep against the Washington Nationals but they came up short on Thursday night.  The Nationals avoided the sweep as they beat the Astros 8-3.

Brandon Backe took the loss to drop to 2-4 on the season.  Backe pitched six innings and gave up six hits and four runs in the game.  Oscar Villarreal gave up three runs while Wesley Wright gave up another run.

Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence, and Ty Wigginton all had one rbi each for the Astros.  The Astros weren’t ablt to string together three or four hits in a row to have a big inning and that is why they lost the game in my opinion.  They just couldn’t come up with that big hit when they needed it as they left 21 runners on base.

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.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Monday night.  The Astros were only able to manage five hits in the game where Daren Haren dominated them.

Chris Sampson tossed 4.1 innings to take the loss for the Astros.  Sampson gave up seven hits and five earned runs.  Talk about a terrible performance by Sampson who but the Astros in a hole that they were unable to get back out of.

Miguel Tejada, Hunter Pence, and Mark Loretta all had one RBI each.

With the loss, the Astros record is now 12-15 on the season.

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.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros defeated the San Diego Padres by a score of 10-3 at home on Monday putting the Astros at 8-12 for the season.  Both teams have been struggling to get wins this year but the Astros came out on top in the end on Monday night.

Lance Berkman hit his fifth home run of the year when he went deep in the first inning on a three run shot.  Miguel Tejada hit a two run home run in the second inning and finished with three RBI.  Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum all got a RBI as well.

Roy Oswalt was the opening pitcher for the Astros throwing for seven innings and allowed six hits, three runs, and two walks.  This win puts him at 2-3 for the year. The Astros brought in Tim Byrdak and Oscar Villarreal to pitch the last two innings of the game.

The Astros will go up against The Padres again tonight and then will go on the road to face the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros could not close out the Philadelphia Phillies in the 9th inning as the Phillies scored four runs and beat the Astros by the score of 4-3.

Jose Valverde blew the save and took the loss for the Astros as he gave up all four runs in the bottom of the 9th.  Pinch-hitter Chris Snelling hit a leadoff homer in the 9th, and Chase Utley was hit by a pitch.  After Ryan Howard struck out, Pat Burrell tied the score at 3 with a two-run homer to right.

Geoff Jenkins then struck out but made it to first as Brad Ausmus wasn’t able to control the ball.  Pedro Felix then hit the game winning double that score Jenkins from first base.  Just a terrible way to end the game for the Phillies.

Starting pitcher Shawn Chacon had pitched eight strong inning of scoreless baseball and was in line to pick up the win before all hell broke lose in the 9th inning.  Great performance by Chacon, hopefully next time he will be able to get the victory.

Miguel Tejada, Geoff Blum, and Hunter Pence had the three RBI’s for the Astros.

Astros Blog