The Astros broke open a close game with six runs in the seventh inning as Pittsburgh’s conclusion to the baseball season gets uglier.
Charlie Morton pitched well enough – three earned runs in six innings. But the offense struggled against rookie Bud Norris. He allowed just one run on six hits and seven whiffs in six innings.
The Astros big inning came at the expense of Joel Hanrahan and Jesse Chavez. The largest damage was a two out three run tater from Carlos Lee, which came on the heels of an error from Ryan Doumit during a rundown.
The Bucs lone run was a solo dinger from Andy LaRoche.
The Good
The season is almost over.
The Bad
All the losing.
The Rest
Is it possble that Jesse Chavez is out of gas? All three runs he let up were unearned, but his second half ERA is 6.00 in 21 IP after a 3.19 ERA in 36-2/3 IP in the first half.
This was Norris’ first career appearance against Houston.
This was Morton’s best appearance in his career against the Astros. Previously he allowed 11 earned runs over 10 innings in two starts. Morton posted an ERA way too close to 7.00 over his previous eight starts.
