This one was a little frustrating to watch. Not only did the Astros shoot themselves in the foot, but the umpires didn't help either. Maybe I shouldn't admonish the umpires, because it was really just the homeplate umpire who looked a lot like C.B. Bucknor.
Offense
One run. One stinking run. No walks and four hits, sums up the night. Justin Ruggiano was the only player to reach base more than once with two hits. Both hits were extra base hits, the first a double, the second a triple. Jason Castro and Brett Wallace were the other two players with hits.
Pitching
Eight runs to Livan Hernandez only four which were earned by him. He lasted only 3.2 innings and gave up seven hits and one walk, while striking out two. Seven runs came in the fourth inning. Adalberto Flores was called on to finish the fourth, but did so after issuing two walks. Wilton Lopez and Fernando Abad followed with two innings each of shutout baseball.
Defense
Three errors on the evening. Justin Ruggiano, Matt Downs and Marwin Gonzalez were the lucky winners. I didn't see Ruggiano's error but I saw both Downs and Gonzalez's error, both of which happening in the fourth inning. With one out Gonzalez decided to charge a ball, trying to catch it on the short hop only to come up empty. This allowed a run to score and the inning to continue. He may of been trying to rush the play for two, but the ball looked like it could of been two had he waited back for it. Either way it resulted in no outs and setup the next error.
With the bases loaded and one out, Downs made a nice diving stop on a ball, but with plenty of time to throw home threw the ball wide. Castro made a nice reach for the ball while keeping his foot on the plate, at least according to the replace. The umpire, however, ruled that Castro had his foot pulled off the bag resulting in a run and no outs. Two batters later Hernandez would give up a grand slam to David Wright.
Friday
6:05 p.m. EST vs Atlanta. Radio: KBME 790.