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| Five homers power Astros past Brewers HOUSTON 7, MILWAUKEE 4 |
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By Gene Duffey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Miguel Tejada kept his word Friday night. Tejada began a run of three consecutive homers in the sixth inning as the Houston Astros rallied for a 7-4 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers. Tejada promised young Jacob Scott, one of the two boys with muscular distrophy who threw out the cermonial first pitch, that he would hit a home run for him. He delivered in the sixth with a two-run blast that forged a 4-4 tie. Tejada, along with several other Astros officials, attended a luncheon earlier in the day sponsored by Citgo to help fight muscular distrophy. "I didn't try to hit a home run," Tejada said. "I just try to get a hit." Citgo had promised it would donate $10,000 to the Muscular Distrophy Association for each homer the Astros hit Friday, plus $5,000 for a victory. The Astros made it a lucrative night for the charity by hitting five homers, including two by Hunter Pence. Trailing 4-0 after four innings, the Astros struck for six runs in the next two frames on the strength of four blasts. "(I didn't think) we'd be hitting four or five home runs a night," Houston manager Cecil Cooper said. "But I thought we'd score a lot of runs. The guys are beginning to look like they're starting to relax and do it." Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee hit consecutive shots in the sixth to put the Astros ahead, 6-4. It marked the first time Houston hit three straight homers since August 31, 2004, when Carlos Beltran, Jeff Bagwell and Berkman accomplished the feat against the Cincinnati Reds. "We probably won't go back-to-back-to-back the rest of the year," Berkman said. "We have guys capable of doing it. We have some power in the lineup." It was the fifth homer of the season for Tejada, who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in the offseason. Berkman now has nine blasts, while Lee has seven. The Astros, who have scored 20 runs in their last three contests, belted five homers in a game for the first time this season. Pence, who struggled through the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season, capped his multi-homer performance in the eighth to give the Astros a 7-4 advantage. He began to resemble the hitter of last year, who batted .322 with 17 homers as a rookie. "I wouldn't say that so fast," said Pence, who raised his average this season to .260. "But I felt pretty good today. I was just getting balanced in the box. We're definitely starting to see the capabilities of this offense." Houston starter Roy Oswalt (3-3) allowed four runs - three earned - six hits and four walks in six innings. He struck out six en route to his third straight win. "He didn't have his best stuff," Cooper said. "Roy battled for six innings and kept us in it. If you pitch on this team, you know you're going to get some run support." "My curveball still isn't there all the time," Oswalt added. "I pitched well enough to get deep in the ballgame. It's nice to know if you keep it close, you've got a chance." That was not the case last year, when Astros starters often did their job but suffered losses because of a lack of offense. "That's what Roy does, he keeps you in the game," Berkman said. "We're going to need Roy to be our horse. When you're helping him out, it gives him some confidence." Carlos Villanueva (1-3), who served up four of Houston's homers, yielded six runs and nine hits in five innings. He retired the first 11 batters he faced but was reached for two runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Lee and Pence's first homer of the night as Houston pulled within 4-2. "I felt pretty good," Villanueva said. "The first couple of innings, I was executing my game plan. After that, I had poor pitch selection. Every time I got it up, they hit it." "The first four innings, he didn't give up anything," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "Then he just couldn't get the ball down. In that park, that makes it tough." Ryan Braun, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year, hit a two-run homer off Oswalt in the first and Mike Cameron led off the fifth with his first blast to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead. |
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