Astros at Diamondbacks, 8/9/2011:
Snakes 11, Astros 9
W: Owings (6-0), L: Lopez (2-5), S: Putz (27)
HR: Martinez (4), Bogusevic (1), Paredes (1), Upton (23)
So, it’s been a while since your humble recapper showed up. If
ever there was a game to recap, well… I don’t know, this
really might not have been the one to choose. But such
is life, such is baseball (as Ken Burns would say, they are
always linked), and so away we go with the summary of
last night’s action.
CB Bucknor was behind the plate – so we could expect nothing
less than complete incompetence. We’d get it in the
upcoming frames, but first Lyles would get things
started by allowing a first inning run; after recording
two outs, an Upton single and a Montero double, that Martinez
errantly broke in on, gave the Diamondbacks the first of many
runs on the night. The Astros would take the lead when JD
drove a ball over the LF wall to make it 2-1, then Bogusevic made
it 4-1 on a drive to LCF that absolutely must be seen to believe (you
can check it out at MLB’s site, but for some reason they
keep their video proprietary). As for Lyles, everything
seemed to be going smoothly until the sixth inning, when a
little bad luck and a few too many bad pitches made what was
a 7-1 lead now a 7-7 tie, and then Lopez teed one to Upton that
promptly made it 9-7. Paredes then cut the lead to 9-8 on a big
fly to RF. It looks as though the Astros would be able to tie things
up in the top of the 8th, but Bogusevic was rung up on a tough
check swing call to keep the lead at 9-8. But Iron Rod couldn’t
keep things close, allowing 2 more in the bottom, and we all
expected that would be that, and the Astros would have simply
run out of things that would have interested the tired fans; but
y’know, baseball never quite works that way.
How did the Astros threaten in the top of the eighth inning?
Oh, you would have to see it to believe it – it was purely
Little League stuff. Bourgeois bunted with Barmes on, and like
Yackball, things went haywire in a hurry. Hernandez lets the ball drop
so he can get the double play, but throws to first like
Hakeem is manning the bag, allowing Barmes to spring to second
in time for the safe call (which was questionable to begin with).
This sent the GZ into a tizzy.
Top 9, Paredes and Q get one out singles, and Barmes almost
homers to the LF corner, instead garnering a ground-rule double
and making it 11-9. Downs PH for Boojwah, and
needless to say, Bucknor had to inject himself into the game (and
keep with his M.O) by giving a 3-1 pitch 6 inches inside a
strike call, and deflating Downs for the next pitch K.
Just like that, it was two out and effectively game over, as
Altuve grounded out to Putz on a nice diving play to end it.
(PS – like Paredes, this recap hits better from the left side.)