Houston (16-20) at Chi Cubs (21-14)

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hou

Lee leading Astros' rise in May

Alyson Footer / MLB.com
Carlos Lee began the season much as the Astros did -- slow. But the Houston slugger has been on fire in the season's second month, leading an offense that has seen better results recently.
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Astros probable pitcher

Brian Moehler

  • #38 RHP
  • (0-2) 8.44 ERA 12 SO
Moehler had his best outing of the season in his last start, holding the Padres to one run over seven frames. Since his return from the disabled list, he's allowed three runs over 12 innings spanning two starts. Moehler made his season debut against the Cubs at Minute Maid Park on April 8, but was knocked out after just 1 2/3 innings, during which he allowed seven earned runs. In his career, Moehler is 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA over 11 games (eight starts) versus the Cubs.
  W-L ERA IP BB SO AVG
Career 75-93 4.77 1372.0 382 752 .294
Season 0-2 8.44 16.0 5 12 .389
May 0-0 2.25 12.0 3 11 .277
Vs. Chi Cubs 0-1 37.80 1.2 1 1 .667

Series at a Glance

Standings - 05/17/2009 W L PCT GB Home Away
Houston Astros (NL Central) 16 20 .444 6.0 8-10 8-10
Chicago Cubs (NL Central) 21 14 .600 0.5 12-6 9-8
Stats - 05/17/2009 AVG R HR RBI SB SO ERA IP H BB SO
HOU .268 158 29 149 26 214 4.70 320.0 340 136 247
CHC .255 177 44 166 20 264 4.46 310.2 286 144 293
chc

Pitching decision looming for Cubs

Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
With Carlos Zambrano nearing a return from the DL, the Cubs will have to decide what to do with pitchers Sean Marshall and Randy Wells.
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Cubs probable pitcher

Rich Harden

  • #40 RHP
  • (4-1) 4.54 ERA 46 SO
Harden picked up the win in his last outing against the Padres, giving up two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked one, and that was encouraging. Obviously, he doesn't want to put runners on, but not walking batters also, obviously, helps keep his pitch count down. Harden did give up a two-run homer to Adrian Gonzalez in the first, so next project is to get off to a better start. He beat the Astros on May 6 in Houston, holding them to three runs on eight hits over seven innings.
  W-L ERA IP BB SO AVG
Career 45-21 3.31 650.1 280 658 .217
Season 4-1 4.54 37.2 18 46 .234
May 2-0 5.40 16.2 8 11 .281
Vs. Houston 1-0 3.86 7.0 3 4 .286

Astros hitters vs Rich Harden

  2009 2004-2008
Hitter AVG AB HR RBI AVG AB HR RBI
Berkman, Lance .333 3 1 2 .333 6 1 2
Blum, Geoff .000 2 0 0 .267 15 1 3
Bogusevic, Brian - - - - .000 2 0 0
Bourgeois, Jason - - - - - - - -
Bourn, Michael .250 4 0 0 .200 10 0 1
Johnson, Chris - - - - .500 2 0 0
Keppinger, Jeff - - - - .400 5 0 0
Lee, Carlos .333 3 0 0 .294 17 1 5
Manzella, Tommy - - - - .000 2 0 0
Matsui, Kazuo .500 4 0 0 .400 10 0 1
Maysonet, Edwin - - - - - - - -
Pence, Hunter .667 3 0 0 .300 10 0 0
Quintero, Humberto - - - - .000 2 0 0
Ramirez, Yordany - - - - .500 2 0 0
Sutil, Wladimir - - - - - - - -
Towles, J.R. - - - - .000 1 0 0
Vallejo, Jose - - - - - - - -

Cubs hitters vs Brian Moehler

  2009 2004-2008
Hitter AVG AB HR RBI AVG AB HR RBI
Adduci, James - - - - - - - -
Baker, Jeff - - - - .200 5 0 0
Blanco, Andres - - - - .500 2 0 0
Bradley, Milton - 0 0 0 .250 12 1 1
Castillo, Welington - - - - - - - -
Colvin, Tyler - - - - - - - -
Fontenot, Mike 1.000 1 0 1 .417 12 1 2
Fox, Jake - - - - - - - -
Fukudome, Kosuke 1.000 2 0 0 .294 17 0 2
Fuld, Sam - - - - - - - -
Hill, Koyie .000 1 0 0 .333 3 0 1
Hoffpauir, Micah - - - - .000 2 0 0
Lee, Derrek .500 2 0 1 .350 20 3 7
Miles, Aaron - - - - - 0 0 0
Ramirez, Aramis 1.000 2 0 2 .389 18 0 6
Soriano, Alfonso .500 2 0 0 .375 24 0 0
Soto, Geovany - - - - .214 14 1 4
Theriot, Ryan 1.000 1 0 1 .214 14 0 2

No sweat (17-19) (21-15)

Astros 6, Cubs 5

Astros hang on

Alyson Footer / MLB.com
Brian Moehler turned in five frames of three-run ball to pick up his first win, as a four-run fourth -- highlighted by Ivan Rodriguez's 300th career homer -- gave the Astros a lead they would not relinquish. Chris Sampson sweated out his first career save, to net Houston a split vs. the Cubs.

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Series at a Glance

 

Rally falls short

Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
The Cubs had the winning run at first base in the ninth, but Geovany Soto's screecher was snagged by Astros third baseman Jeff Keppinger to end the game. Rich Harden took the loss -- his first in five decisions -- despite a big day from Derrek Lee, who went 4-for-5 with his fourth homer.
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Astros 6, Cubs 5

Houston AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Matsui, K, 2B 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .238
Bourn, CF 4 1 0 0 0 2 2 .298
Berkman, 1B 3 1 2 1 2 0 1 .230
Lee, C, LF 4 0 0 0 1 0 5 .331
  Erstad, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167
Tejada, SS 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .318
Pence, RF 4 0 0 0 0 4 2 .323
Blum, 3B 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 .269
  Sampson, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Rodriguez, I, C 3 1 1 2 1 2 0 .286
Moehler, P 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
  a-Smith, J, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
  Byrdak, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
  Arias, A, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
  Keppinger, 3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .321
Totals 34 6 7 5 4 10 16  

a-Struck out for Moehler in the 6th.

BATTING
2B: Berkman (4, Harden), Tejada (12, Harden).
HR: Rodriguez, I (5, 4th inning off Harden, 1 on, 2 out).
TB: Matsui, K; Berkman 3; Tejada 3; Blum; Rodriguez, I 4.
RBI: Tejada (21), Blum (12), Rodriguez, I 2 (19), Berkman (21).
2-out RBI: Blum; Rodriguez, I 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Tejada; Lee, C 2; Smith, J.
Team RISP: 3-for-11.
Team LOB: 7.

BASERUNNING
CS: Berkman (2, 3rd base by Ascanio/Soto).
 
Chi Cubs AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Soriano, A, LF 5 2 2 1 0 0 1 .280
Theriot, SS 5 1 1 1 0 1 1 .294
Fukudome, CF 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 .333
Lee, D, 1B 5 1 4 2 0 1 0 .226
Bradley, RF 5 0 1 1 0 1 3 .195
Soto, C 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .204
Fontenot, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 .204
Scales, 2B 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .333
Harden, P 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .200
  a-Freel, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .136
  Ascanio, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
  Cotts, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
  b-Miles, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .217
Totals 39 5 11 5 2 4 18  

a-Flied out for Harden in the 6th. b-Grounded out for Cotts in the 9th.

BATTING
2B: Theriot (7, Moehler), Lee, D (6, Moehler).
HR: Lee, D (4, 5th inning off Moehler, 0 on, 1 out), Soriano, A (12, 9th inning off Sampson, 0 on, 1 out).
TB: Soriano, A 5; Theriot 2; Fukudome 2; Lee, D 8; Bradley; Soto.
RBI: Theriot (18), Lee, D 2 (18), Soriano, A (25), Bradley (9).
2-out RBI: Bradley.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Harden 2; Fontenot 2; Scales; Soto.
Team RISP: 3-for-10.
Team LOB: 10.

FIELDING
E: Scales (1, fielding).
 
Houston IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Moehler (W, 1-2) 5.0 5 3 3 2 4 1 7.71
Byrdak (H, 3) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.21
Arias, A (H, 3) 1.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2.70
Sampson (S, 1) 1.2 4 2 2 0 0 1 2.22
 
Chi Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Harden (L, 4-2) 6.0 6 4 4 3 7 1 4.74
Ascanio 2.0 1 2 2 0 2 0 6.75
Cotts 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 5.87

WP: Moehler, Ascanio.
HBP: Soto (by Moehler), Matsui, K (by Ascanio), Bourn (by Ascanio).
Pitches-strikes: Moehler 106-65, Byrdak 5-4, Arias, A 17-11, Sampson 36-23, Harden 112-69, Ascanio 24-17, Cotts 24-13.
Groundouts-flyouts: Moehler 2-10, Byrdak 1-2, Arias, A 4-0, Sampson 2-3, Harden 5-6, Ascanio 2-1, Cotts 0-2.
Batters faced: Moehler 24, Byrdak 3, Arias, A 6, Sampson 9, Harden 27, Ascanio 8, Cotts 5.
Inherited runners-scored: Sampson 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Angel Campos. 1B: Gary Darling. 2B: Bruce Dreckman. 3B: Bill Hohn.
Weather: 50 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 8 mph, In from RF.
T: 3:00.
Att: 40,478.
May 17, 2009

Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner