Contributed by austro
Reds at Astros
July 23, 2010
MinuteMaid Park
Astros 4, Reds 6
WP Ondrusek (1-0) SV Cordero (27) LP Byrdak (1-1)
The Astros got off to a good start in this one, scoring a 1st-inning run on singles by Sanchez, Berkman, and Pence. Meanwhile, Norris was off to a good start, facing only 10 batters in the first three innings.
But the problems started in 4th inning. Cabrera led off with a ground ball to Johnson, who threw wildly to 1st, Cabrera going to 2nd on the throw. Votto and Gomes walked to load the bases with no outs. Jay Bruce followed with a sac fly to Lee in LF, and Norris hit Cairo to load the bases again. But then Norris got Stubbs to ground Sanchez at short, who threw to Quintero for the force at home, and it looked like Norris might be able to get out of the inning with minimal damage. He got to a 2-2 count on Hanigan, but on the next pitch Hanigan hit a seeing-eye ground ball that snuck through the hole into LF, and that yielded two runs. Wood popped up a bunt to end the inning, but the damage was done.
In the bottom of the inning the Astros got a run back on a daring/dangerous play by Pence. With one out, Pence singled to LF, and then went to 3rd on a single by Keppinger. Johnson then popped up to Phillips in short RF, and Pence decided to go for home. Since Phillips was backpedalling for the catch (which really should have been made by the right fielder), he couldn’t get as much on the throw as he normally would have, and Pence barely snuck in on a very good slide.
The Reds pushed the lead out to 4-2 in the top of the 5th when Votto lined a solo homer over the RF fence.
In the bottom of the 6th the Astros tied it up on a miracle Pence homer. Lee led off the inning with a single, and then Pence somehow reached out and around a low, outside pitch and pulled it into the Crawford boxes. I have no idea how he did that, and I’m worried that this result will encourage him to keep going after that pitch, which is a low pay-off proposition; time will tell, I guess. Keppinger followed with a double, and it looked like the Astros might put the Reds on the ropes. But Johnson, Quintero, and Michaels (pinch-hitting for Norris) made successive outs to end the threat.
The Astros lost the game in the 8th when Byrdak came in and gave up a single to Votto, a single to Gomes, and a double to Bruce that scored Votto. Figueroa relieved Byrdak and struck out Cairo, but then he gave up a double to Stubbs that scored Gomes. Those were the final two runs of the game.
The good guys made a push in the bottom of the 8th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Feliz (pinch-hitting for Quintero) struck out, and Hernandez (pinch-hitting for Figueroa) grounded out to 1st. They put two men on in the bottom of the 9th, too, but nobody could bring them home.
So, yet another loss that could have been averted with a little bit of luck. C’est la vie this year, and like I told my wife, these things are a lot easier to take this year since we know they’re not going to be the difference between a playoff spot and sitting at home.
Game 2 of the series takes place Saturday night at 7pm, with Johnny Cueto taking on Roy Oswalt, assuming Oswalt isn’t wearing a different jersey by then.