Houston Astros edge Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 in series opener – MLB Update
Houston Astros showed what they are capable of as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Phillies made an aggressive start to the contest. Making the most of available opportunities, they raced to a handsome 4-0 lead in the third inning. Credit goes to the Astros for making a strong come back immediately.
Third baseman Matt Dominguez smacked a three run home-run in the fourth inning to put Astros on the board. Shortstop Jed Lowrie and right fielder Brandon Barnes also made useful contributions to help their team come back from behind to claim a memorable
victory.
Starting pitcher Lucas Harrell bounced back from a shaky start, giving up four runs in five plus innings. Relief pitcher Wesley Wright grabbed his second win of the year.
"The percentages in baseball, sooner or later you are going to get beat," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "At the same time, I didn't mean for it to happen tonight. We had a chance to win the game, it was sitting right in front of us. The bottom
line is that we didn't add on runs, but we didn't execute either."
"We had opportunities and Lowrie got a big hit for him," Philadelphia's Ryan Howard said in a post game interview.
Astros will be very satisfied with the way they handled difficult situations in the opener. The pitching rotation, in particular, showed nerves of steel to help Houston prevail in a thrilling encounter.
There is no denying the fact the Astros have very talented pitchers and hitters on their big league roster but the Skipper has not been able to get the best out of them this season.
Surely, they will be looking to extend their winning streak to cheer up their fans in these closing stages of the season. Phillies, on the other hand, will be looking to make a strong come back in Game 2. Although they are out of the playoff race, they can
make themselves proud by bringing consistency in their results.
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