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Astros power past Pirates to take series
Two-run shots by Lee, Tejada deliver victory at Minute Maid
By Michael Murphy / Special to MLB.com
09/12/09 11:20 PM ET
HOUSTON -- After an offensive outburst on Friday in their series opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Astros found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum on Saturday.With hits at a premium against Pittsburgh starter Ross Ohlendorf, Houston made good use of the few it got, getting two-run homers from Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada in a 4-2 victory before a crowd of 35,213
It was the 13th straight road loss for the Pirates, a number that was even tougher to swallow considering they allowed only four hits.
"Sometimes all it takes is a couple of swings," said Astros manager Cecil Cooper. "Tonight, we had two and made them count, and that's the big thing. You have Carlos' two-run job, and then Miggy [Tejada] gets the big one there that breaks the tie. That's all you need sometimes when you get good pitching, and tonight we got good pitching."
And while the offense wasn't great, the Astros did manage to get some pretty timely hits.
"The way that kid [Ohlendorf] for the Pirates was throwing, we figured that today was the day that we wouldn't score a lot of runs," said Tejada, whose homer broke his 30-game homerless drought. "This kid was pitching pretty good."
Considering that Tejada has a career average of .625 (10-for-16) against Ohlendorf, that's really saying something. Ohlendorf kept the Astros off the bases until the fourth inning, when Kaz Matsui beat out a one-out bunt single.
One out later, Lee came to the plate, breaking up a scoreless game with a shot to left for a 2-0 lead. And Lee fully agreed with Tejada's assessment of Ohlendorf's pitching.
"That guy was pitching real good," said Lee, whose homer was his 25th of the season. "I can't say that he made mistakes with his pitches. The pitch he threw Miggy was [a fastball] down and in, and the pitch that I hit out was a curveball that broke inside a little. Other than that, he kept us off-balance all night long."
Starter Brian Moehler did just enough to keep the Astros in the game, with his only real rough stretch coming in the fifth inning, when he gave up both runs on four hits. Moehler got a no-decision, despite giving up just those two earned runs in six innings of work.
"I thought Brian threw the ball well," Cooper said. "He only had the one inning where he gave up consecutive base hits and a couple of runs. But other than that, he pitched well. He mixed his pitches well and pitched ahead for the most part. He's like Old Man River -- he just keeps rolling along. He keeps doing a good job. Quality starts are all we need, and he's given us a lot of them."
The Pirates evened the score in the top of the fifth, getting their first run on an RBI double from Ramon Vazquez that plated Ronny Cedeno, who had led off with a single to right field. Vazquez later scored on a two-out single to center field by Andy LaRoche. The Pirates could have been looking at a bigger inning, but Moehler struck out Ryan Doumit with runners on first and second.
Despite the string of hits, Moehler said he decided to trust his pitching.
"I was getting ahead," Moehler said. "I was just using my sinker tonight. I didn't abandon it. Even when they were getting hits there, I felt like I should stay with [the sinker]. There were a few hits that just found holes there for a while."
The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh, when Tejada launched a shot to down the left-field line, scoring Lance Berkman and giving the Astros a 4-2 lead.
"I loved it," said Tejada of his 11th homer of the season. "I knew we had LaTroy [Hawkins] and Jose [Valverde] coming up to pitch the next two innings, so I thought we had a good chance."
And that's precisely how it worked out: Hawkins pitched the eighth, and Valverde nailed down the save, his 23rd. Jeff Fulchino, who pitched just the seventh inning, picked up the win to improve to 6-4.
Cooper said that being able to go to the bullpen for pitchers like Fulchino, Hawkins and Valverde has made his job much easier.
"It shortens the game," Cooper said. "It makes your decisions a lot easier. And the way Fulchino and [Alberto] Arias have thrown this year for us, it makes it even shorter. It makes it a lot easier. It shortens the game up."
Michael Murphy is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
