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| Sports ExtraFriday, August 31, 2007 7:29 PM CDT |
Astros beat Cardinals behind Albers’ 7 strong innings
HOUSTON — Matt Albers pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Lance Berkman homered for the second consecutive game and the Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Thursday. Albers (4-6) walked four and struck out three, shutting down the Cardinals’ offense for the second time this season. The 24-year-old Albers earned his first major league victory in St. Louis on May 5, giving up three hits in 7 1-3 innings in the Astros’ 13-0 win. Chad Qualls relieved Albers to start the eighth and the Cardinals got two singles, but couldn’t score. Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 14th save. Joel Pineiro (3-2) lost for the first time in five starts. The Cardinals began the day two games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central. The Cubs played second-place Milwaukee on Thursday night. The Astros won for the fourth time in 11 games and won a series at Minute Maid Park for the first time since sweeping the Cubs from Aug. 6-8. Mike Lamb walked with one out in the Astros’ second and Luke Scott doubled down the left-field line to make it 1-0. Scott was tagged out trying to stretch his hit into a triple. Pineiro led off the third with a single to left, his first hit of the season and only the third of his career. He reached third on Brendan Ryan’s double and scored on David Eckstein’s RBI groundout to tie it. Berkman led off the fourth with a homer to right, his 26th of the season. He also led off an inning with a homer in Wednesday’s 7-0 victory and came into Thursday’s game batting .412 in his last 18 games. Albers retired six in a row after walking Albert Pujols with two outs in the third. Eckstein reached on an error by shortstop Eric Bruntlett, and Rick Ankiel walked with two outs in the fifth. Albers struck out Pujols to end the inning, prompting loud cheers from the sparse crowd. Houston rookie Hunter Pence, elevated to the top of the lineup Wednesday by new manager Cecil Cooper, led off the sixth with a single. He sprinted to third when Pineiro threw a wild pickoff try that skidded past Pujols for an error. Pineiro escaped, getting Chris Burke to pop out and retiring Berkman and Carlos Lee on grounders. Chris Duncan pinch-hit for Pineiro in the seventh and grounded out. Albers walked Ryan with two outs, but got Eckstein on a popup. Craig Biggio, pinch-hitting for Qualls to lead off the eighth, singled off former Astro Russ Springer. Pence walked and Burke advanced the runners with a bunt. Berkman was intentionally walked to load the bases for Lee, who came into the game with 103 RBIs. He struck out swinging. Lamb flied out to end the threat. Notes:@ Berkman has hit 23 of his home runs left-handed. ... Lamb made a diving stop at third base to rob Ryan Ludwick of a hit in the fourth inning. ... St. Louis manager Tony La Russa stayed stuck on 1,041 wins with the Cardinals, tied with Red Schoendienst for the club record. ... Biggio has 3,043 career hits. |
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I wrote on Aug 31, 2007 9:00 PM:
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Cub fan wrote on Aug 31, 2007 3:34 PM:
Cards fan wrote on Aug 31, 2007 12:23 PM:
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WHY????? wrote on Aug 31, 2007 9:17 AM:
Line-up wrote on Aug 31, 2007 8:14 AM:
card fans wrote on Aug 31, 2007 7:03 AM:
HJ wrote on Aug 31, 2007 3:29 AM:
Re: Addison wrote on Aug 30, 2007 7:54 PM:
Addison wrote on Aug 30, 2007 6:34 PM:
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