The Astros enter the All-Star Break on a pretty low note, as yet another winnable game got away from them. After tying the score in the bottom of the 9th and getting plenty of opportunities to score, they ended up getting burned in the 13th as the Cardinals got a couple runs off Brad Lidge to win. Houston enters the break at 43-46, 6 games out of first place.
Pooholes drew first blood in the top of the 1st with an RBI single off Andy Pettitte. Following that, it was a pitcher's duel for the better part of six innings as Andy Pettitte and Chris Carpenter only allowed a combined six baserunners through the top of the 6th. The Astros finally got to Carpenter in the bottom of the 6th, with Mike Lamb tripling past Juan Encarnacion in right-center to score Pettitte and tie the game. Lamb then scored when Chris Burke doubled to left-center, giving the Astros the lead.
Pettitte found himself in trouble early in the 8th, with runners at first and third and nobody out. Dan Wheeler was brought in for relief, and Lamb booted a Pujols chopper at third, allowing David Eckstein to score from third. Scott Rolen then blasted a Wheeler offering into the concourse behind the Crawford Boxes, giving the Cards a 5-2 lead.
Burke answered again in the bottom of the 8th with a two-run bomb to left, cutting the Cards' lead to 5-4. In the bottom of the 9th, after Carpenter allowed Preston Wilson to reach to lead off the inning, Jason Isringhausen came in to preserve the win. Jason Lane singled through the right side, advancing Wilson to third. Craig Biggio, pinch-hitting for Adam Everett, then hit a fly ball to center field, allowing Wilson to score and tie the game.
In extra frames, the Astros had their best scoring opportunity in the 10th, when they loaded the bases with one out. Wilson and Lane both fanned to end the inning. In the 12th, Roy Oswalt pinch-hit for Chad Qualls and laced a two-out double down the left field line. However, he missed the bag while rounding first, and the Cards sniffed it out, throwing to first for the forceout.
Lidge came in for the bottom of the 12th and you can probably guess what happened. Eckstein was plunked to leadoff the inning, and So Taguchi singled to right, bringing Pujols to the plate. Lidge got Pujols on a lazy fly, and then got Rolen on strikes. Only the .257-hitting pinch-hitter Aaron Miles stood between Lidge and keeping the game tied. One wild pitch and a line-drive double later, the .257-hitting Miles had beaten Lidge and knocked in both runners, who had advanced to second and third on the wild pitch. The Astros went in order in the bottom of the 12th.
So, the Astros lost two straight extra-inning games they could have won, and are two games lower in the standings than they were before the Cards series. One can only hope the second half sees an improvement in the Astros' play as well as a continued lackluster showing from the rest of the NL.
Houston won't play again until Thursday at 6:05pm CDT, when they travel to Miami for a four-game set against the Marlins. Roy Oswalt is scheduled to pitch against Dontrelle Willis.
