RECAP: Brandon Backe got the call to start tonight’s game and didn’t disappoint the sellout crowd, tossing 7 and 1/3rd excellent innings to pick up his fourth win of the year. Backe dominated the powerful Phillies lineup, striking out six while walking only one. The one run he gave up came off a solo homer from Pat Burrell early in the game. Doug Brocail relieved Backe in the 8th inning, getting two key outs while working his way through the Phillies most dangerous hitters to hold Philadelphia scoreless that inning. Astros closer Jose Valverde entered the game in the 9th inning and, in a frightening moment, was struck on the side of his face by a liner off Pedro Feliz’s bat. Valverde was down for several minutes but stood up and, amazingly, stayed in to finish the game. He gave up two earned runs, one due to the liner he took to the face, but induced a fly ball to center to nail down the save, giving the Astros a hard-fought 4-3 win.

At the plate, Ty Wigginton had his second multi-hit game in a row, knocking a single and a double. J.R. Towels recorded his first hit of the series and later scored on a Michael Bourn single. Lance Berkman ripped a triple into the right-field corner and scored on a sac-fly off the bat of Carlos Lee. While Backe contributed at the plate with an infield single and a sacrifice bunt, the night’s biggest offensive star was Hunter Pence, who smacked a pair of homers, one to far right field and the second a titanic blast that banged off the facade over the Landry’s Crawford Boxes in left field.

THOUGHTS: The Astros combined stellar pitching with timely hits and aggressive base running to take this second game. Seeing Bourn and Towels both record clutch hits late in the game is a great sign, keep your eyes on them in the coming games.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brandon Backe; 7 & 1/3rd IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 hit at the plate.

ASTROS RECORD: 28-22 (.560)

RECAP: Roy Oswalt looked strong in the first inning, but things quickly fell apart for the Astros ace, and he ended his outing after the 6th inning, having surrendered five runs to the Phillies. The bullpen stepped in but gave up an additional pair of runs in their collective three innings of work, cementing the Phillies 7-5 victory. Wesley Wright gave up one of the runs and was credited with the loss, and Fernando Nieve was tagged for the final run the bullpen allowed. Tim Byrdak continued to impress, coming in with two runners on and only one out, and managed to get out of the inning with only one of the runners coming around to score. Former Astros closer Brad Lidge came in and pitched a scoreless 9th inning, nailing down his 12th save of the season.

Michael Bourn recorded yet another multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 and stealing his 21st base of the year, tying him for the Major League lead. Ty Wigginton had the best performance of the night, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Lance Berkman continued his hot-hitting ways as well, recording three hits in five at-bats and driving in a run.

THOUGHTS: The offense had a good showing tonight, but Oswalt and the bullpen both faltered. The Astros will have to pitch more effectively in the coming three games against the potent Phillies lineup if they’re going to do well in this series.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ty Wigginton; two singles, a double and two RBIs.

ASTROS RECORD: 27-22 (.551)

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.

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