OrangeWhoopass.com Forums
General Discussion => Archive => News Archive 2006 => Topic started by: Waldo on May 16, 2005, 01:42:05 am
-
The Astros have their first two-game winning streak in almost two weeks thanks to an outstanding effort from Brandon Backe. He notched his first complete game shutout of his career while only giving up four hits and two walks, and that along with the bats led the team to a 9-0 victory over the Giants. That was good enough to earn a 2-2 series split with SF.
Rice-A-Roni starter Jeff Fassero didn't last very long, pitching only three innings. It was long enough to get the Astros started on a good day at the plate. Morgan Ensberg plated the first three runs with a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the first, and Craig Biggio continued his hot hitting with another homer of his own, a two-run shot to make it 5-0 Astros. He also beat out a potential inning-ending DP to score Backe from 3rd and make it 6-0.
Morgan led off the bottom of the 5th with another homer, and Backe added a run-scoring single in the same inning to make it 8-0. Ensberg then hit another blast, his third of the day, in the bottom of the 7th.
The Giants only got one runner past third the entire evening. Willy Taveras got his 14th stolen base of the season and is on pace for 61. Tonight's win was Backe's third of the season, putting his record at 3-2. The Astros get Monday off before the Diamondbacks come to MMPUS, with Roy Oswalt and Javier Vazquez set to start on Tuesday night at 7:05pm CDT.
In other news, the Astros announced today that Jeff Bagwell will undergo surgery on his right shoulder in early June. He is expected to be out until September at the earliest. From the sounds of it, the procedure sounds like a last-ditch effort to save Baggy's career.