Why They Won
Because of the pitching staff of Myers, Lyon, and Lindstrom. Really. The Rays were 0x12 w/RISP, and the defense took two Rays off the basepaths in the 5th - catching Zobrist stealing third and picking off Longoria at first.
Astros Pitching
| Name | IP | H/ER | K:BB | Pit-Str | CS/SS |
| Myers | 7 | 6/0 (1R) | 7:4 | 122-78 (63.9%) | 27/11 |
| Lyon | 1 | 2/0 | 2:0 | 22-14 (63.6%) | 0/4 |
| Lindstrom | 1 | 1/0 | 0:0 | 13-9 (69.2%) | 1/1 |
The Rays scored their only run of the game in the 1st inning - and I know what you were thinking. Something along the lines of, "Well. That's that." Zobrist's double (ah, former Astro Ben Zobrist. Forever linked to Aubrey Huff, and that's just sad.)
Myers threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 30 batters he faced, but let's look at the baserunners he allowed in each inning:
1st inning: 2 (0x2 w/RISP, 1R)
2nd inning: 2 (0x2 w/RISP)
3rd inning: 3 (0x1 w/RISP)
4th inning: 1 (0x2, sac w/RISP)
5th inning: 2 (0x2 w/RISP)
6th inning: 1 (0x1 w/RISP)
7th inning: 0
Lyon's inning was also impressive, but in the disaster-averted sense. With the Astros up 2-1, Lyon gave up a first-pitch single to Longoria, got Pena swinging, gave up a single to John Jaso (Jingleheimer-Schmidt). With runners on 1st/2nd, Lyon got Willy Aybar on another first pitch, and Reid Brignac swinging on a nine-pitch AB.
The Rays got their leadoff man on base in five innings, and scored one run.
Astros hitting
Still nothing really to speak of. The Astros were 6x30 with three walks (Berkman, Manzella, Myers). Your multi-hit game belongs to Jeff Keppinger, with an RBI for Keppinger on a single, scoring Cash in the 3rd. With Keppinger on first and Bourn on 3rd, Berkman struck out swinging to end the inning. In the 6th, Pence singled to center to score Keppinger - but after Lee had runners on 1st and 2nd, and grounded out to second. With Pence and Keppinger on base, Feliz popped out, Manzella walked, and Cash grounded out to third.
I know Manzella is only hitting .192 - and .146 in May. But he has been on base at least once in his last eight starts (4x20, 5BB).
And since we're keeping up with this, the Astros only saw 100 pitches. All night.
Pitch Count Hero: Keppinger (2x4) - 17 pitches in four PAs
Pitch Count Punk: Cash (1x3) - 6 pitches in three PAs.
Man of the Match: Brett Myers
Goat of the Game: Pedro Feliz (0x4 - 12 pitches). I don't know how much longer they can keep running Feliz out there, with his .536 OPS, and keep Chris Johnson in Round Rock.
