The Astros surrendered their fourth straight loss (and 10th of their last 12) on Sunday afternoon as the Reds swept the 'Stros in Houston, winning 6-4 in 11 innings.
Roy Oswalt, the scheduled starter for this game, was unable to go due to pain in his back. Oswalt had had the condition since Friday but it acted up during his pre-game warmups. He was such a late scratch that the TV broadcast opened with Bill and Jim talking about Oswalt's start. Fernando Nieve was forced to start in Roy's stead, and the game was delayed to give him extra time to warmup.
All things considered, Nieve turned in a pretty good outing, working five innings and giving up only a couple of solo homers. The first was a weak pop by Ryan Freel in the 3rd that reached the first row of the Crawford Boxes in left, tying the score at 1-1. Austin Kearns gave the Reds the lead in the next inning with an opposite field bomb to right.
Morgan Ensberg had given the Astros an early lead with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the 2nd. After the Reds took the lead on Kearns' homer, Brad Ausmus led off the bottom of the 5th with a triple to right field. Kearns tried to make a diving catch of Ausmus' line drive, but it went under his glove and dribbled to the corner. Ausmus was already rounding second base by the time Kearns got to the ball. After walks to Jason Lane and pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro, Craig Biggio hit a line drive to the gap in deep left center which was caught by Junior Griffey with a diving catch. Ausmus scored to tie the game, and Chris Burke watched strike three to end the inning.
Trever Miller took over for Nieve in the 6th, and gave up another home run to Kearns, this time to the concourse behind the Crawford Boxes, giving the Reds a 3-2 lead. That lead stood up until the bottom of the 8th, when Burke blooped a single into shallow right center with Mike Lamb on second. Doug Mansolino gambled by sending Lamb home, and it paid off since Kearns was unable to get a grip on the ball to make a throw. Both teams went scoreless in the 9th inning to force extras.
Dan Wheeler took the mound in the 10th and gave the Reds a lead after only two batters. Freel walked to lead off the inning, and a double by Felipe Lopez into the left field corner. Wheeler got out of the inning, and back-to-back 2-out doubles by Biggio and Burke in the bottom of the 10th tied the score again.
After a one-out walk in the 11th, Wheeler was relieved by Russ Springer, who gave up another, slightly more legitimate two-run homer to Freel. Pinch hitter Eric Munson grounded into a game-ending double play in the bottom of the inning.
Freel entered Sunday's game with only one home run. Ausmus went 3x5 and is hitting .306 on the season; his average is the highest of all the regulars on the team.
The Cubs come to town on Monday, with Taylor Buchholz facing Carlos Zambrano. First pitch is 7:05pm CDT.
