Five homers were hit, including three by Manny, Ethier and Blake in the top of the 6th to tie the game 4-4. With the exception of Pence's homer, they all went to left field. Where's our SportsCenter special investigating the wind tunnel effect at Minute Maid Park? Roy was effective, except for three pitches. But let's see the First Pitch stats...
FP strike: 16
FB ball: 11
Good news for Roy is that in the 11 times he threw a first-pitch ball, only twice was the second pitch a ball, as well.
Oswalt: 6IP, 8H, 4ER, 6K:1BB (3 HR)
Sampson: 2IP, 2H, 1ER, 1K
LaHawk: 1IP, 0H, 1K
Good job in a game where Valverde was unavailable for Sampson to go two (though he got hit pretty good in his second inning of the night) and LaHawk to get a perfect ninth inning.
| Pitcher | Pit/Str | Strike% | BF/Outs | Efficiency% | GB/FB/K |
| Oswalt | 108/70 | 64.8% | 27/18 | 66.7% | 9/3/5 |
| Sampson | 34/19 | 55.9% | 8/6 | 75% | 5/0/1 |
| LaHawk | 16/11 | 68.7% | 3/3 | 100% | 1/1/0 |
Let's say it again, 15 groundball outs, eight strikeouts, and only four flyball outs. Of course three of those flyballs went beyond the boundary of the playing field, but what are you gonna do?
Offense was money again, doing just enough to get the win. Extra-base hits in the form of doubles from Pence, and two doubles by Michaels, with a homer by Berkman - 4-game hitting streak - provided the offense, and when Pence advanced to third on a wild pitch, Pudge got the big hit to knock him in with the game-winning RBI. And, even better, four of the Astros' six runs came with two outs.
Man of the Match:
Hunter Pence. Six total bases, takes third on the wild pitch, two RBI, scores the game-winning run.
Goat of the Game:
Jeff Keppinger. 1-for-4 (he's only hitting .455 now), but he did end the inning three times and left four on base.
