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The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Chris Sampson and Mark Loretta put an end to
the Houston Astros' losing streak.
Loretta had three hits and drove in four runs and Sampson hurled
five effective frames in a spot start for the injured Roy Oswalt
to lead the Astros to a 6-1 win over the struggling Atlanta
Braves on Saturday night.
Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada drove in a run each for Houston,
which snapped a four-game losing streak.
"We're taking it one game at a time," Loretta said. "I thought
Sampson set the tone with a great performance. It was a pretty
good team effort tonight."
The Astros (41-47) started the season slowly and have struggled
of late after catapulting themselves into a tie for second place
on May 27. Since then, Houston has won just 11 of their last 35
en route to returning to the cellar in the weak National League
Central Division.
The news did not get much better when the club announced that
staff ace Oswalt would miss his scheduled start against Atlanta
with a hip injury and got even worse on Saturday when they
revealed that their three-time All-Star returned to Houston for
further tests on his ailing left hip.
When the Astros needed someone to step up in their ace's place,
Loretta and Sampson (4-3) delivered.
Loretta drew a one-out walk off Atlanta starter Jo-Jo Reyes
(3-7) in the first inning before advancing to second on a
groundout. Lee plated Loretta with a single before taking
second on rookie Jason Perry's wild throw home. Tejada followed
with a base hit, plating Lee for the two-run cushion.
"I'm sure (the early cushion) was big," Loretta said. "I'm sure
it put (Sampson) at ease."
Houston put two more on the board in the second on Loretta's
two-out double to give Houston a 4-0 lead. Loretta smashed his
third double of the night off reliever Jeff Bennett with the
bases loaded in the ninth, plating two to give Houston its final
margin of victory.
"The first two doubles, I hit very well," said Loretta, who
matched a career high with the three doubles. "It was a good
night to hit a fly ball. The last one I just kind of fought off
an inside fastball."
Loretta's heroics provided more than enough runs for the Sampson
and the Houston bullpen as the Braves bats once again fell
silent.
Sampson, who spent all of June in the bullpen, was effective in
a spot start. He surrendered one run and two hits while
striking out two without a walk over five frames en route to
notching his first win since May 20.
"The only thing I wanted to show them is that any time they give
me the ball, no matter what, I'll do the best I can," Sampson
said. "Whatever role they give me, I can handle."
After issuing a single to Yunel Escobar in the first, Sampson
retired 11 straight batters until Brian McCann blasted his 15th
homer of the season into the right-center field bleachers. He
departed after tossing 56 pitches.
"I knew I was going to have to be very efficient to last as long
as I could in the game," Sampson said. "When I started the
game, I said that I'd be happy to go at least five and I was
able to do that."
"We just couldn't get anything rolling," McCann said. "We just
didn't swing the bats. (Sampson) got in a groove. He's got
good stuff. If he locates, he's going to be good. Tonight, he
spotted up well."
Houston's bullpen picked up where Sampson left off. Tim Byrdak
scattered two hits in the sixth and seventh, Doug Brocail
hurled a scoreless eighth and Jose Valverde shut the door with a
perfect ninth inning in a non-save situation for the Astros.
"We didn't get many hits, period,"
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