Bud Norris sparks as Houston Astros defeat St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 – MLB Update
Houston Astros’ starter, Bud Norris had a notable day with the ball as he pitched eight overriding innings with an ERA of 3.67 in the Astros’ 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Minute Maid Park, Houston on June 8.
The batters failed to put any run on the score-board during first two innings as the pitchers delivered outstanding throws in perfect areas. In the third inning, the Astros’ batters exploded two runs and gave their team an initial 2-0 lead. Hunter Pence
tripled to deep centre and Jeff Keppinger posted one run. The second run was taken by Pence when Carlos Lee was grounded out to short-stop.
No run was contributed from any batter in the fourth inning. However, the Astros extended their lead 3-0 during the fifth inning when Jason Michaels singled to left field, Jason Bourgeois scored a single run and Lee advanced to second base.
The pitchers were on top in the sixth inning again as they restricted the batters to no run. Norris gave only one run on one hit including one earned run. He struck-out two batters and allowed five walks on his 104 pitches. The Astros’ Manager, Brad Mills
was pleased with the way Norris pitched tonight. Norris said, “That really helped economize his pitches by staying away from the strikeouts he normally gets.”
On the other side, the Cardinals posted their first and final run of the game in the seventh inning to cut their deficit 3-1 when Lance Berkman homered (362 feet) towards right-field. Berkman said, “I've always said this dude has great stuff, great mentality
and reminds me a lot of Roger Clemens with his aggressiveness and mound presence.”
Norris commented on Lance’s homer and said, “We all know Lance. He played here for a long time and he's just such an amazing hitter. I threw the pitch I wanted to throw, definitely in a good spot, but I was behind in the count and ... he put a pretty good
swing on it.”
During the eighth inning, Michael Bourn drove a single-run shot to centre-field and J.R. Towles added one run to give the Astros a 4-1 lead. Ninth inning went in favour of the pitchers as they did not allow a run.
Jaime Garcia pitched five innings and gave three runs on seven hits including three earned runs.
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