This game was all about baserunners, as the two teams had a combined 46 hits and walks. The Astros had 14 hits and 11 walks while the Diamondbacks added 16 and 5, respectively. The great JD pointed out that home plate umpire Jerry Crawford’s strike zone was ‘tight’ as many, many, MANY borderline pitches were called balls. Crawford remained consistant until the final pitch.
Craig Biggio opened the scoring by smashing a solo homer to left in the first inning, giving Astros starter Roy Oswalt the early lead. It was Biggio’s 274 career homer and left him one hit shy of 2,900. After the dust cleared in the bottom half of the inning, Roy had allowed five hits-including three straight 2-out RBI singles as the Snakes took the 3-1 lead.
Morgan Ensberg led off the 2nd with a single to right center. After a pair of F-9’s for two outs, Brad Ausmus walked. With Roy at the plate, both runners advanced on a wild pitch from the league leader in stray pitches, Arizona starter Miguel Batista. Roy worked the count full, then delivered a solid single to right center to plate two runs and regain the tie.
After Arizona failed to score in the bottom half of the 2nd, the Astros loaded the bases in the 3rd on walks but could not push a run across. In the bottom of the 3rd, ‘Zona plated a run after a leadoff double and two-out RBI single. The next batter hit a rope to right center that had RBI triple all over it, but luck fell the Astros way as the ball bounced over the short fence for a ground rule double, keeping the runner at third. Roy retired Batista for the final out of the inning.
Leading off the 4th, Ausmus walked again and Roy bunted him to second. Willy Taveras tied the game at 4 with a grounder up the middle that escaped the pitcher and the middle infielders. Roy allowed a hit and his only walk of the game in the bottom half of the 4th, but kept the Snakes from scoring.
Lance Berkman, with a rested U-joint, led off the 5th with a bloop single to center. Aubrey Huff followed with a sharp single to right, with Berkman wallowing into second. After Ensberg struck out, Luke Scott drew a walk to load the bases. Adam Everett hit a deep fly to center to score Lance and break the tie, 5-4 Astros. Ausmus walked to load the bases again, sending Batista to the showers. Sidearmer righty Mike Koplove entered, but Roy couldn’t pull any more magic out of his bat. He did put up a fight however, fouling off four strikes in his 10 pitch at-bat. In the bottom half, Oswalt coaxed three ground outs sandwiched around a single to keep the lead intact.
Taveras led off the 6th with a solid single to center. After a Biggio pop up, he stole second and raced to third when the ball escaped the shortstop. SB and E-6. Berkman and Huff drew consective walks to load the bases yet again. Ensberg, who after his injury time out has morphed into ultra agressive at the plate, swung at everything he could reach, finally popping to second. Scott looked at strike three to end the inning. Oswalt retired the side in the home half of the inning, with help from a running catch by Scott in left and a laser throw from Taveras, nailing a stunned Gonzo at second base trying to stretch a single.
Everett led off the 7th with a single, and Ausmus forced him with a shot in the hole that the shortstop snagged and nipped Everett at second base. Orlando Palmeiro came off the bench pinch hitting for Oswalt and roped a double to left center that just missed rolling to the wall. Ausmus chugged around the bases and was thrown out at the plate on a good relay. Taveras took strike three looking to end the threat.
Clinging to a 5-4 lead, Chad Qualls took the ball in the bottom of the 7th. First batter, single. Second batter, home run into the swimming pool in right center. Lead vanashes, as does Roy’s victory. Qualls retired the final three on fly balls but the damage was done, Snakes 6-5.
After Biggio flied to center in the 8th, Berkman cranked a solo shot that flew OVER the pool to tie the game at 6. Huff followed with a single. Ensberg grounded out for the second out, with Huff moving to second. Scott walked, but Everett grounded to short to retire the side.
Qualls remained in the game to face a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 8th. He walked him on four straight pitches. The next batter hit into a fielders choice, force at second. With a pair of lefty hitters due up, manager Phil Garner opted for Trever Miller. After a single, Miller got the ground ball he wanted and the Astro escaped the inning with a nice 4-6-3 double play.
Knotted at 6 all, the Diamondbacks turned to rookie Tony Pena in the 9th, who had mowed down the Astro in three inning of work at Minute Maid Park last week. Ausmus led off and went down on three straight strikes. With the pitchers spot up, Garner chose Mike Lamb to pinch hit. He slammed the first pitch 95 mph fastball deep into the bleachers in right to give the Astros a 7-6 lead.
“He’s a guy who throws hard,” Lamb said of Pena, a rookie right-hander. “Swing early and hope you hit it, pretty much. It was a pitch I could handle, and good things happened.”
Taveras was next, and on a 1-2 pitch, Pena challenged him with a heater. Willy turned on it and slammed it into the left field seats for his first homer of the season. His last dinger was was over a year and 739 at-bats ago. 8-6 Good Guys on the back-to-back shots. Next up was Biggio, but he went down on strikes. Berkman, who was stunned watching Willy trot around the bases, walked and silently chuckled his way to first base. Then he ‘sprinted’ around the bases on Huff’s single to right, complete with a truly awful slide into third. Ensberg popped to left to complete the inning.
With an 8-6 lead and closer Brad Lidge toeing the rubber in the bottom half of the 9th, what could go wrong you say? A two-strike leadoff single was the first sign. Lidge then retired the next two lefty hitters, one on a fly to deep center and punched out the second with a fastball. That was Shawn Green, whose long looping swing was no match. JD said so. Next up, Orlando Hudson, worked a walk after fouling off several two-strike pitches. Lidge then walked rookie Stephen Drew on four pitches to load the bases. Garner had seen enough from his struggling closer. Dan Wheeler was trusted to finish this up.
“I felt like I had to go to Wheeler,” Garner said. “I just felt like I had to do it.”
Wheeler worked the count full to Jeff DaVanon, but walked in the run to make it a one run game. Next up was pinch hitter Carlos Quentin, who has been tearing up the league for the last few weeks with clutch hits in late innings. Remember last week? Wheeler started him off with two straight strikes, a slider on the corner and a fastball away. Beautiful, JD says. After a ball and a couple of fouls on fastballs, Wheeler wouldn’t give in, and threw another fastball that Quentin tipped but Ausmus squeezed in his mitt to retire the side and preserve this important victory.
“It’s one of those games where it’s really important to win for our own morale, I guess,” Lamb said. “It’s tough to lose those games, especially when we’re fighting for a playoff spot.”
“I thought Roy did a super job of battling tonight,” Garner said. “Early in the game we were wondering, the way they kept throwing hits up there, but he kept us in the ballgame. I give credit to our ballclub for not quitting and battling right back.”
Game two of the series pits 44 year old Roger Clemens against young righty Dustin Nippert, fresh from the minors.