Astros 6, Diamondbacks 4
Contributed by BatGirl
After suffering through a 7-game losing streak in May, the Astros have gone on to win 4 series in a row, and are playing Sunday in hopes of extending it to 5 straight. Oh, and they’ve also pulled to within 5 games of first place in the Division. Also, suck it, Joe Buck.
Roy Oswalt got win number three Saturday as the Astros beat the Diamondbacks 6-4 at Chase Field. He held them to just one run in 7 innings and showed better command and more confidence in his curveball – hopefully a sign that he’s beginning his patented second-half-of-the-season-dominance.
The excitement began in the sixth inning, when Miguel Tejada hit number 2000 of his career and drove in Bourn from third to tie the game at 1. Miggy continues to have a career offensive year for the Astros, and is hitting .341. He is only the 29th shortstop all-time to reach 2000, and had his wife, kids, sister, and several close friends on-hand to help celebrate the achievement.
Lance Berkman followed Miggy’s milestone with one of his own, just one out later. He jacked one almost 400 feet off of Jon Garland to collect his 300th career homerun. That makes the Puma only the 7th switch-hitter to hit 300 HR’s.
Coop ended up using almost every single player on his bench Saturday, and acknowledged after the game that the Astros were, “pushed to their limit,” and that, “it took everybody and almost everything they had to win”.
Literally. That’s because Pence!!! was the only position player left on the bench. The Astros had to piece this one together using what little they had, considering the bench is short and the injuries just keep on keepin’ on…
Carlos Lee got crampy in the leg while galloping to first base during the 4th and had to leave the game, and the D-Backs chased Sampson out in the bottom of the 8th after he began experiencing right arm fatigue. They’ll be able to compare notes with Blum and Keppinger on where it hurts.
Jose Valverde, available for first time since April 26th, was brought on in the eighth when Arias ran into trouble getting out of the inning. Although Coop had hoped to get Valverde back on the mound in a “non-pressure situation”, he called on him with 2 out and a man on 2nd. Papa Grande looked ok, but he may have gotten lucky with the pop-up that ended the inning that came on a fastball that was up in the zone.
La Troy Hawkins closed the 9th and collected the save.
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Moehler takes the mound Sunday at 3:10 for the final game of the series.