Houston heats up, pummels Cubs 11-5
A big first inning led the way to a victory for the Houston Astros against the Chicago Cubs Monday night, as the Astros won 11-5. Jason Castro was among many heroes for the Astros despite going 1-5, as he hit for 3 RBI. Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence both had two RBI, all of them coming in the first inning. The Astros climbed to 38-55, but are still 14 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. The Cubs fell to 42-52 and are right above the Astros in the standings, 10.5 behind the Cardinals.
The Astros were coming off of a rough series against the Pittsburgh Pirates where they dropped two of three and were outscored 23-11, and in the final two games allowed a combined 36 hits by the Bucs. The Astros responded by setting their own season-highs against the Cubs with their 11 runs and 17 hits. The 17 hits were also the most given up by Chicago all season.
"The pitching today wasn't good," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.
The Astros had four runs on the board before an out was recorded in the game, thanks to the two-run single by Pence and the two-run double that followed by Lee. Chris Johnson scored Lee as he hit into a double play for the fifth run of the first inning.
When Cubs' starter Carlos Silva took to the bench after his rough first inning, he learned he wouldn't be getting off it again for the night.
"Silva. I don't have an explanation. I'm going to talk to Larry about him tomorrow. He is not as sharp as he was earlier that's for sure," Piniella said. "We have a day off on Thursday. If he needs some little extra work in the bullpen we can do that. We're going to do what is best for the pitcher."
Silva started the season 8-0, but has gone on a 1-4 slide since. His last two starts have resulted in 11 runs in only two and a third innings.
"I'm still human," Silva said. "I think that's the way we have to look at it. These game are going to happen. Everything I was throwing it was hit."
Houston's manager: Hitting had to come eventually
The Astros are 28th in the league in hitting and 29th in batting average, so a breakout of 17 hits and 11 runs seems to be something of an anomaly. Astros manager Brad Mills doesn't see it that way.
"It's those guys out there. They swung the bats and the talent is there. It was going to come out at some point," Mills said. "Tonight it did."
Mills changed the order up a bit, putting Jeff Keppinger into the six-hole. He responded nicely, going 1-2, scoring three runs and drawing three walks. Chris Johnson was even stronger in the seven spot, with three RBI on two hits, a home run in the seventh and a triple in the eighth, scoring the final three runs of the game.
Castro's only hit of the night, a three-run jack in the third, barely made it over the wall.
"When I hit it I didn't think it had a chance," said Castro. "In BP, the ball wasn't traveling too well but as the game went on the wind started picking up. It got out and it definitely gave us that cushion that took the pressure off a little bit and let us just play."
Cubs couldn't ride their momentum
Chicago came into the series the favorite, and not just because of their better record. The Cubs had taken three out of four from the Philadelphia Phillies, while the Astros had lost two of three to the Bucs.
After scoring runs in the third and fourth, the Cubs seemed to be getting the bats off their shoulders with a couple home runs in the sixth. Tyler Colvin led the inning off with a solo shot, and two batters later Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run, 431-foot blast. But those were the last runs of the night for the Cubs and they cooled down as quickly as they heated up.
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