The Venue

It was a hot day in Minute Maid Park Sunday afternoon. And it seemed to get off to a depressing start for the Houston Astros as they attempted to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers for a third time in a row. In just 3 ½ innings, the Brewers had managed nine hits and five runs off starter pitcher Chris Sampson. Chris struggled to heighten his pitching game but manager Cecil Cooper did not give him a chance to throw the rest of the game away and replaced Sampson with Dave Borkowski. At the end of the fourth inning the Brewers had a 6 -2 lead over Houston but the Astros managed to keep getting back in the game.

Things really became interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning where the Astros were down by one, had two outs and bases were loaded. Berkman came to the plate and all the fans knew this was going to be the play to get the win. Or was it? Berkman was walked and the Astros managed to tie the game 6 – 6. Carlos Lee did not get to be called the hero coming up to bat after Berkman. So the Astros moved on to their first game over nine innings this season.

The tenth and eleventh inning passed by scorelessly, and in the twelfth inning we had some action. The Brewers managed to load the bases but Tim Byrdak was able to get himself out of the jam as he retired J.J. Hardy. Now with the Astros turn to bat, Hunter Pence attempted to get some action going with Berkman on base. He had not been very successful at the plate that day and was ready to let one explode. And he did just that. Mitch Stetter threw a forceful one to Pence and that was all he needed to get the home run and run around Minute Paid Park celebrating the Astros sweep against the Brewers with a win of 8 -6. It definitely was a team effort with the bullpen doing a great job of closing the game, Berkman’s four runs and help from Tejada.

The Astros will have one day of rest before starting their next series against the Nationals on Tuesday.