The Cubs allowed 11 hits, but the Astros were otherwise pretty anemic at the plate. The real story was Russ Ortiz and the five relievers who came in and - mostly - held the Cubs's bats silent. Ortiz threw 13 first-pitch strikes, and had 23 non-contact strikes on the day.
Ortiz: 5.1IP, 3H/0ER, 5K:3BB
Byrdak: .1IP, 1K
Arias: 1.1IP, 1K:1BB
Sampson: 1IP, 1K
LaHawk: 2IP, 2H/1ER, 1K:1BB
Fulchino: 3IP, 1H, 2K
With one out in the 9th, LaHawk gave up a homer to Derrek Lee to tie the game and send it to extra-innings, but Fulchino came in with three near-perfect innings to get the win.
| Pitcher | Pit/Str | Strike% | BF/Outs | Efficiency% | GB/FB/K |
| Ortiz | 92/58 | 63% | 20/16 | 80% | 9/2/5 |
| Byrdak | 5/3 | 60% | 1/1 | 100% | 0/0/1 |
| Arias | 21/11 | 52.4% | 5/4 | 80% | 2/1/1 |
| Sampson | 9/6 | 66.7% | 3/3 | 100% | 2/0/1 |
| LaHawk | 35/24 | 68.6% | 9/6 | 66.7% | 3/2/1 |
| Fulchino | 36/22 | 61.1% | 10/9 | 90% | 3/4/2 |
| Total | 198/124 | 62.6% | 48/39 | 81.3% | 19/9/11 |
Bourn again set the table for the 1st run of the game with a lead-off double, scoring on Carlos Lee's sac fly to right. But the Astros had runners on in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th (Keppinger was thrown out stealing 2nd in the 7th), 10th (Kata! Got himself a hit), and 11th before finally getting a run across - two straight walk-offs by our friend Geoff Blum, who hit a single with Pence racing from 2nd to score the winning run.
Man of the Match:
Has to go back to Blum. Got the game-winning RBI, again, and went 3x6 on the day.
Goat of the Game:
LaHawk. Had to hold a terrible Cubs offense in the 9th, and failed to do so.
