The Astros broke a 6-game losing streak with a 7-5 win over the baby bears of Chicago Saturday evening at Minute Maid Park. Astros starter Brandon Backe earned his second win of the season by pitching into the 8th inning, allowing four earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Chad Qualls finished up allowing a single run over the final two innings.
The real news is the Astros bats finally woke from an extended slumber and pounded out 10 hits, including three from Jeff Bagwell as they pushed seven runs across the plate. Mike Lamb and Brad Ausmus contributed a pair of hits each.
Drawing first blood, the Astros put up three runs in the first inning on injured wing Cubbie Kerry Wood as Bagwell and Jose Vizcaino had run-scoring singles sandwiched around an RBI triple by Lamb. Backe gave it right back in the 4th, allowing three runs in the frame to tie the game, but rookie Willy Taveras gave the Astros the lead for good in the bottom half of the 4th with a double that scored Ausmus. The Astros scored three more runs in the 7th on a Jason Lane RBI groundout and a two-run single by Ausmus to cap the scoring for the good guys.
Taveras had his second outfield assist at the plate in as many days by nailing Jeromy Burnitz in the 2nd.
The Astros end April with a record of 9-13, hoping to win the series with tomorrows matchup of Roy Oswalt vs. Mark Prior @ 1:05 pm CST