Roy Oswalt came within 2 pitches of a complete game shutout. There was no Oswalt Inning tonight but he did work himself out of some jams. He drew the lineup that did not include Bonds and Alou.
In the first he got some help from Bruntlett getting the start at short with a 6-3 dp. Bruntlett was instrumental in this game as Roy got 19 groundball outs.
A stickier situation occurred in the 2nd, Feliz doubled, then Oswalt temporarily lost his breaking ball and Greene singled through the hole. With runners on the corners, Sparky rediscovered the curve, snuck a couple by Niekro then struck him out with a fastball. Our old pal Vizzy ended the inning by grounding out to Bidge.
Again, in the 3rd, two on, the Dozer got a come backer and started a 1-6-9 dp, with a nice assist from Brunlett, who had to adjust for the wide throw. A triple with 2 outs in the 4th lead nowhere. The 5th featured a nice play behind second by Bruntlett.
The only other hint of trouble came in the 6th; with a runner on, Ray Durham just missed a fat fastball up and flied out to right. Then Greene singled to put two on. Roy began to fling fastballs at Lance Niekro, 95 mph high, 94 high and in, then something low at 84 to change his eye, and a 94 mph fastball that Niekro lined to left.
The Astros offensive heros for the night were Ausmus and Berkman. Ausmus started the scoring in the 2nd . Ensberg opened the inning with a sharp double, but Wilson K?d and Lane moved Ensberg over with a grounder to 1st. So, with 2 outs, runner on 3rd and Giants starter Mike Caine blistering fastballs at 96 mph, Ausmus struck a sharp single to center.
Berkman continued the scoring in the 3rd. With 2 outs Willy extended the inning skipping a single up the middle. Then came Elvis, from the left side, blasting a long fly to dead center, making the score 3-0. Finley took a divet out of the padding in center trying to climb the wall that will take some money out of the AT&T budget for flat screen TVs to fix.
But all was not pinot grigio and melted brie at McCovey Cove for the Astros. In the 4th, on the late return from commercials, we discover Wilson already driving his own long fly to center. It did not clear the wall, and he landed on 2nd. Lane walks, then Ausmus walks the bases loaded, no outs. Bruntlett works the count 3-0, and strikes out swinging on the next 3 pitches. Oswalt Ks and Biggio grounds out to record a goose egg for their troubles.
Then in the 7th, with one out, Oswalt and Biggio hustled out of a potential dp. Vizcaino helped out by slow motioning the underhand feed to Durham whose relay was off line. Oswalt slid in hard. They only got one out. The Astros took advantage. Taveras dropped a liner to right center, Berkman walked and Ensberg taxed the reliever Correia with a run scoring walk. Wilson grounded out to end the inning.
Lane had a decent at bat in the 8th, sharply turning on a couple pitches that went foul. He made the first out with a fly to right center. The inning featured Biggio singling home Bruntlett to make the score 5-0.
In the 9th, Berkman hit his second homerun of the night, this time from the right side. And Ausmus singled home Lane, who had previously doubled home Wilson. That was Bradley?s third hit of the night and second RBI. The score stood at 8-0. Roy tried to finish it, but was bumping up around 120 pitches and only recorded one out. Nieve got the last two groundball outs with 2 pitches.
Tomorrow it?s Andy vs Brandon Webb, 8:40 vs the Snakes
