Post by bstros on Apr 21, 2007 6:48:12 GMT -5
Biggio slam holds up in win
Brewers rally off Lidge in ninth; Qualls shuts door
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
MILWAUKEE — For the third consecutive night, Craig Biggio and his teammates pulled off a victory with a late rally, and they needed every last run.
Biggio delivered the biggest blow Friday night, driving in all of the Astros' runs in the ninth-inning rally with a grand slam to left field at Miller Park.
Biggio's third career grand slam was the difference in the 6-5 victory after Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer to right in the bottom of the ninth off Brad Lidge for a nail-biting end to the first game of the three-game series.
"It wasn't easy," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "But, by George, we did a nice job.
"We came back and put runs on the board. And at the end you have to stop one short, and we did it. Thank goodness Biggio gave us a little breathing room and we took advantage of it."
Biggio, who had not hit a grand slam since July 24, 1994, is within 55 hits of becoming the 27th player in history to collect 3,000.
How far has he come since his last grand slam?
He had 2,028 hits since his last grand slam before Friday.
"It's not something that I do a lot, that's for sure," said Biggio, whose slam came off Milwaukee's Greg Aquino. "I got the ball up in the air a little bit and definitely got the bonus out of it."
With their third consecutive come-from-behind victory, the Astros are 3-0 on their four-city, nine-game trip through Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They're also 8-1 since their 1-5 start to move into first place in the National League Central.
"We've been having a lot of quality at-bats this past week late in the game, especially out of our younger guys, which is nice because you get guys on and we're able to get big hits from guys later on down the lineup," Biggio said. "It's just part of getting contributions from everybody. This past week, we've been doing a nice job of it."
With his slam, Biggio gave the Astros a 6-2 lead on a night Matt Albers pitched six solid innings and Rick White (1-0) added two scoreless innings to earn the decision.
The Brewers countered in the ninth against Lidge. Because Dan Wheeler had thrown three innings over the previous two nights and Chad Qualls had thrown in eight of the Astros' previous 14 games, Garner wanted to use Lidge in a non-save situation to spare Wheeler and Qualls.
Lidge walked the first two batters he faced, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Rickie Weeks. After striking out J.J. Hardy, he gave up Fielder's home run.
Fielder makes it interesting
"It wasn't good enough, put it that way, obviously," Lidge said of his 1-2 slider to Fielder. "It should have been down more. He's a good hitter.
"I would classify it this way — I got ahead of him, so for me to put it anywhere in the strike zone I think is a mistake. I should have thrown it lower. I probably tried to throw it too hard, overthrew it a little bit and left it up in the zone."
Lidge got Bill Hall to ground out but was yanked after Johnny Estrada doubled to left-center. After Garner called on lefthander Trever Miller, Milwaukee manager Ned Yost countered with the righthanded-hitting Corey Hart.
Miller intentionally walked Hart and turned it over to the righthanded Qualls. Yost countered with the lefthanded-hitting Gabe Gross.
Qualls fell behind in the count 3-1, raising the volume from the crowd of 41,522.
After Gross fouled back the next pitch, Qualls got the save by inducing a grounder to second with a 94-mph fastball.
Matt Wise (0-1), who allowed Chris Burke's bunt single to lead off the ninth, took the loss.
"Qualls has thrown a lot of innings and some consecutive days, and he had a day off (Wednesday)," Garner said. "I was trying to get by without using Wheeler or Qualls.
"Unfortunately it didn't happen, so we'll regroup and see what we'll do tomorrow. The guys did the job tonight."
Albers settled for the no-decision after holding the Brewers to two runs on six hits with three walks and one strikeout over six innings in his first outing since he was promoted from Class AAA Round Rock to take the injured Jason Jennings' spot in the rotation.
Albers, Sheets duel
Milwaukee ace righthander Ben Sheets also got a no-decision after holding the Astros to two runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts over seven innings.
"He really did a great, great job for us tonight," Biggio said of Albers. "Especially because Sheets threw the ball so well; also to be able to come out of the game tied like that was nice."
jesus.ortiz@chron.com
Brewers rally off Lidge in ninth; Qualls shuts door
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
MILWAUKEE — For the third consecutive night, Craig Biggio and his teammates pulled off a victory with a late rally, and they needed every last run.
Biggio delivered the biggest blow Friday night, driving in all of the Astros' runs in the ninth-inning rally with a grand slam to left field at Miller Park.
Biggio's third career grand slam was the difference in the 6-5 victory after Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer to right in the bottom of the ninth off Brad Lidge for a nail-biting end to the first game of the three-game series.
"It wasn't easy," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "But, by George, we did a nice job.
"We came back and put runs on the board. And at the end you have to stop one short, and we did it. Thank goodness Biggio gave us a little breathing room and we took advantage of it."
Biggio, who had not hit a grand slam since July 24, 1994, is within 55 hits of becoming the 27th player in history to collect 3,000.
How far has he come since his last grand slam?
He had 2,028 hits since his last grand slam before Friday.
"It's not something that I do a lot, that's for sure," said Biggio, whose slam came off Milwaukee's Greg Aquino. "I got the ball up in the air a little bit and definitely got the bonus out of it."
With their third consecutive come-from-behind victory, the Astros are 3-0 on their four-city, nine-game trip through Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They're also 8-1 since their 1-5 start to move into first place in the National League Central.
"We've been having a lot of quality at-bats this past week late in the game, especially out of our younger guys, which is nice because you get guys on and we're able to get big hits from guys later on down the lineup," Biggio said. "It's just part of getting contributions from everybody. This past week, we've been doing a nice job of it."
With his slam, Biggio gave the Astros a 6-2 lead on a night Matt Albers pitched six solid innings and Rick White (1-0) added two scoreless innings to earn the decision.
The Brewers countered in the ninth against Lidge. Because Dan Wheeler had thrown three innings over the previous two nights and Chad Qualls had thrown in eight of the Astros' previous 14 games, Garner wanted to use Lidge in a non-save situation to spare Wheeler and Qualls.
Lidge walked the first two batters he faced, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Rickie Weeks. After striking out J.J. Hardy, he gave up Fielder's home run.
Fielder makes it interesting
"It wasn't good enough, put it that way, obviously," Lidge said of his 1-2 slider to Fielder. "It should have been down more. He's a good hitter.
"I would classify it this way — I got ahead of him, so for me to put it anywhere in the strike zone I think is a mistake. I should have thrown it lower. I probably tried to throw it too hard, overthrew it a little bit and left it up in the zone."
Lidge got Bill Hall to ground out but was yanked after Johnny Estrada doubled to left-center. After Garner called on lefthander Trever Miller, Milwaukee manager Ned Yost countered with the righthanded-hitting Corey Hart.
Miller intentionally walked Hart and turned it over to the righthanded Qualls. Yost countered with the lefthanded-hitting Gabe Gross.
Qualls fell behind in the count 3-1, raising the volume from the crowd of 41,522.
After Gross fouled back the next pitch, Qualls got the save by inducing a grounder to second with a 94-mph fastball.
Matt Wise (0-1), who allowed Chris Burke's bunt single to lead off the ninth, took the loss.
"Qualls has thrown a lot of innings and some consecutive days, and he had a day off (Wednesday)," Garner said. "I was trying to get by without using Wheeler or Qualls.
"Unfortunately it didn't happen, so we'll regroup and see what we'll do tomorrow. The guys did the job tonight."
Albers settled for the no-decision after holding the Brewers to two runs on six hits with three walks and one strikeout over six innings in his first outing since he was promoted from Class AAA Round Rock to take the injured Jason Jennings' spot in the rotation.
Albers, Sheets duel
Milwaukee ace righthander Ben Sheets also got a no-decision after holding the Astros to two runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts over seven innings.
"He really did a great, great job for us tonight," Biggio said of Albers. "Especially because Sheets threw the ball so well; also to be able to come out of the game tied like that was nice."
jesus.ortiz@chron.com
