Friday, April 23, 2010

Recap for G16: Astros v. Pirates

Hopefully you didn't take my advice and go ahead and bench Carlos Lee. Because his two-run double helped the Astros to a 4-3 win over the Pirates.

Why They Won
Roy's seven innings were key, and - hey, Roy won consecutive decisions for the first time since September 21/25, 2008 (@Pittsburgh, v. Cincinnati). That, combined with two-out RBI from Keppinger and Feliz, and 4x7 w/RISP adds up to a win. And that is six wins in their last eight games.

Astros Pitching





NameIPH/ERK:BBPit-StrCS/SS
Oswalt74/24:191-62 (68.1%)21/7
Lyon10/00:06-5 (83.3%)1/0
Lindstrom10/01:012-9 (75%)2/4


The Pirates were the victims of some seemingly bad luck, hitting into 14 flyball outs - six of them flyballs to the outfield. Since Lyon's blowup against the Cubs (where he almost blew Oswalt's April 17 win), Brandon Lyon has thrown three perfect appearances - and needed just 27 pitches to get nine outs. Lindstrom now has five saves, saving five of the six Astros' wins.

Astros hitting

Isn't this something? The Astros got seven hits - three of them for extra bases, and all of those were doubles. Feliz, Keppinger, Lee, and Berkman all had hits w/RISP. The Astros drew two walks (Bourn and Berkman, naturally), and actually saw more pitches than the opposition.

Let's talk about Hunter Pence for a second. In 60 PAs, he has worked the count to three balls five times. And struck out in two of those. He's 0x11 w/RISP, and has put 16 balls to the outfield all season.

The Astros are now 4-2 in 1-run games.

Pitch Count Hero: Michael Bourn (1x3, BB) - 19 pitches in four PAs
Pitch Count Punk: Hunter Pence (0x3 - 7 pitches in three PAs.

Man of the Match: We'll give credit where it's due. The Astros needed a hit with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, and Carlos Lee delivered a double to left.

Goat of the Game: Hunter Pence. 0x3, groundouts to first and second (twice). Took the first pitch for a strike - looking - in all three plate appearances.