Thank God for Rafael Soriano. He's the player of the game for the Astros, as Tommy Hanson made the Astros look foolish for eight innings. I understand Tommy Hanson is slowly returning from injury, but he was sitting at 98 pitches, with 5H/0ER, 7K:0BB. Think maybe he should have gone for the 9th? Who cares! That's a walk-off, 2-1 win.
Let's do the thing:
Wandy: 7IP, 3H/1ER, 6K:2BB, 20/26 first-pitch strikes, 27/59 non-contact strikes (20 called:7 swinging)
Wright: 1IP, 2K, 1/3 FPS, 7/9 NCS (3c:4s)
Valverde: 1IP, 2K, 2/3 FPS, 7/12 NCS (3c:4s)
Great pitching performance, and it's getting to the point where the staff needs to keep the opposition below two runs to win a game. At home, Wandy is 8-2 (with six no decisions), and a 1.58 ERA. 1.58, and six no decisions. That's disgusting.
Hanson dominated the Astros, who managed just five hits - all singles. Thankfully, Soriano came in and it all happened. Berkman got a clutch double in the 9th to move Matsui to third. An intentional walk to Lee (which is a great managerial move by Bobby Cox to get to double play-prone Miguel Tejada. Who ripped a single to center, scoring Matsui and Berkman to win the game.
Chris Johnson saw some game action at third after Blum was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures after suffering a contusion on his leg. More on that later this morning.
Pitch Count Hero: Hunter Pence - 16 pitches in 3 PAs (0x3, 2K)
Pitch Count Punk: Lance Berkman - 7 pitches in 4 PAs (2x4, 1K)
Man of the Match: Rafael Soriano (ha!). Tejada had a clutch hit, but it's going to Wandy.
Goat of the Game: It's hard to say. How about Pence - 0x3, 2Ks, and ended the inning twice.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
