Despite Brad Lidge's perfect 7x7 record in save opportunities this season, plenty would argue that he hasn't quite been himself. A string of shaky outings finally caught up to that save record on Monday night, with Nomar Hamm crushing a Lidge fastball off the facade above left-center for a game-winning grand slam. The Dodgers, who had been no-hit into the 7th inning, won the game by a 6-2 final, dropping the Astros to 13-6 on the season.
Andy Pettitte's masterful outing was a breath of fresh air following his early struggles. Despite walking three batters, he completely shut down the Dodgers for 6-1/3 innings. The no-no was broken up in a painful way, the first LA hit coming on a game-tying crank by JD Drew that just reached the first row of seating in right field. Pettitte struck out five and induced 13 groundball outs, including two double plays.
Brad Ausmus had given the Astros their early lead in the 2nd, hitting a double over the head of Kenny Lofton that reached Tal's Hill. Jason Lane had walked before him and scored from first. In the 8th, with the score now tied, Lance Berkman went opposite field on Takashi Saito, blasting off with a 415 footer to the deepest part of left-center.
Lidge's 9th inning started off well enough, getting Furcal to ground out to Berkman. Lofton then drilled the first pitch he saw to the base of the wall in deep right-center, making it to third without a throw. Lidge then struggled with his control, bouncing sliders and missing his spots, leading to walks of Drew and Jeff Kent to load the bases. After falling behind 2-0 to Garciaparra, Lidge battled back to 2-2 before grooving the pitch Nomar deposited about 380 feet away. Lidge stayed in for one more batter, and the Dodgers tacked on another run off Mike Gallo.
The Astros tried to make it interesting against Lance Carter in the 9th, with Preston Wilson and Lane reaching base to start the inning. Danys Baez was brought in, Ausmus flied out, and Adam Everett grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
Saito got the win. Despite the four-run deficit, Baez was credited with the save, since Everett represented the potential tying run. Ausmus went 3x4 and is hitting .333. Morgan Ensberg went 0x4 with two whiffs, ending his hitting streak at ten games.
Houston tries to even the series Tuesday night at 7:05pm CDT, as Fernando Nieve makes the second start of his career. Brad Penny goes for the Dojers.
