Padres 3, Astros 2
W: Enrique Gonzalez (1-0) L: Oscar Villarreal (0-1) S: Trevor Hoffman (2)
Astros.com wrap from Sandy Burgin (?)
The Astros bats lost their momentum after last night’s exciting ninth inning rally, managing a mere six hits and two runs as they failed to achieve the split in the final game of a four game set in San Diego, losing 3-2 Thursday afternoon.
There were a few bright spots.
Shawn Chacon made his Astros debut and pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, walking four and recording four strikeouts. He left for a pinch hitter trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh. He was wild early, but settled down and pitched well.
Mark Loretta had a pair of hits, including a run-scoring double in the third for the Astros initial run. It was set up by a nice 10-pitch walk to J.R. Towles, who was quickly erased on a failed sacrifice bunt by Chacon. After another fielders choice put Hunter Pence on first with two outs, Loretta waited on a slow sweeping curve from Padres lefty starter Randy Wolf and slammed it into the left field corner, scoring the gliding Pence easily.
Towles tied the game in the seventh by ripping a hanging slider from Padres reliever Enrique Hernandez into the left field corner, scoring Jose Cruz Jr. who had walked with one out. Geoff Blum pinch hit for Chacon but popped up, and Pence grounded out to end the threat.
Oscar Villarreal coughed up the lead a few minutes later on a one out fly ball triple to right center followed by an RBI single, as the Padres took a 3-2 lead and cruised the final two innings.