The Astros of 2006 cannot seem to put together all phases for more that a game or two. The pitching led to the demise of this game, as the Astros rallied several times but could not hold the lead in front of 43,000 fans “dressed up” for 70’s night at Minute Maid Park.
Brandon Backe started and allowed 12 hits and a pair of walks in his 5 innings, and gave up the go-ahead runs in the 5th and 6th innings after the Astros rallied for ties in each. He was replaced by Russ Springer in the 6th who got out of the jamb with the club trailing by a run. Chad Qualls pitched the 7th and allowed a pinch-hit 2-run homer to increase the defecit 7-4. Trever Miller pitched a perfect 8th and Dan Wheeler worked the 9th and 10th keeping the visiting Diamondbacks from scoring. With a string of lefty hitters due up in the 11th, manager Phil Garner turned to Andy Pettitte , Wednesday’s starter and in his first relief outing in 8 years, and promptly gave up the go ahead run after a leadoff double.
The Silver lining was the bats, led by rookie Luke Scott , who hit for the cycle in reverse order, including his first major league home run, and drove in 5 of the 7 Astro runs. Craig Biggio, Mike Lamb, and Aubrey Huff all had a pair of hits, and Huff also walked 3 times. The tying run was on first base in the bottom of the 11th and slugger Lance Berkman stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter, but he grounded to first as the Astros fell to seven games below .500 for the first time in this extremely disappointing season.
“We had some great at-bats tonight, we hit the ball good several times with men in scoring position,” said Garner. “Still, we didn’t win the ballgame, so that’s no consolation.”
The Astros could still salvage this series starting with Roy Oswalt facing Juan Cruz at 7:05.