Astros 12, Giants 4
W: Oswalt (10-8) | L: Walker (4-7)
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom half of the 5th inning, the Astros had managed a mere one hit and punched out seven times against young phenom Tim Lincecum, but Brad Ausmus changed all that by smashing a liner right into the back of the youngsters knee, forcing him to take a seat for the rest of the evening. Lincecum odd motion put him in harms way as he finishes with his back turned to the hitter, so it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. Good thing for the Astros, as they exploded for an eight runs in the 7th against the Giants bullpen, and added two more in the 8th as the good guys continued their winning ways by defeating the Giants 12-4 at MMP.
Roy Oswalt started and seemed to struggle with his off speed stuff, but spotted his fastball just enough to limit the damage to three runs in seven innings, allowing ten hits and three walks, but no long balls to hurt him. The big rally in the 7th carried him to his 10th win this season. Chris Sampson and Tim Byrdak mopped up the final two innings.
Darren Erstad started in right field for Hunter Pence and had the only hit against Lincecum, a double in the 3rd inning just inside the left field foul line that rolled around in the corner allowing Brad Ausmus to score from first. Erstad also scored when the Giants secondbaseman allowed a roller to go under his glove.
The big rally began with a walk to Ausmus and a pinch-hit single by Pence. Mark Loretta walked to load-em up and Erstad blooped a single to left, scoring Ausmus and Pence in a strangely familiar looking play. Miguel Tejada singled to load-em up again, and Lance Berkman followed with a grand salami off the limestone facade in left. The Giants lefty reliever challenged him on a 3-1 pitch, and he made them pay. Geoff Blum extended the rally with a double and scored on an opposite field dinger by Ty Wigginton.
The Astros continued to feast on the Giants bullpen in the 8th with four more hits, scoring two more runs on a solo shot by Pence and a Tejada double.
Read the GZ thread for more details.