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| Wigginton, Backe lead Astros past Reds HOUSTON 3, CINCINNATI 2 |
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HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Brandon Backe gave the Houston Astros his second quality start in a row and Ty Wigginton hit two solo home runs as the Astros posted a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday at Minute Maid Park. Backe (9-12) went 6 2/3 innings giving up six hits and two runs with a walk and six strikeouts on just 89 pitches. "I kept them off-balanced, and they didn't get the good part of the bat on the ball," Backe said. "Things are falling in line. I am throwing the ball well. The last two games have been good." The righthander, who retired 15 of 16 batters at one point, threw seven innings in his last start - a win over the New York Mets on Saturday - giving up just three runs on five hits with four strikeouts. "The last two starts he has been terrific," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "I hope this is the real Brandon Backe. He did the same thing he did the last time out, and he attacked the strike zone with his fastball and went offspeed when he needed to. That's the guy I like to see out there." LaTroy Hawkins threw a perfect eighth, and Jose Valverde struck out the side in the ninth for his 35th save of the year. Wigginton gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the first inning, driving a 2-0 offering from Aaron Harang (4-14) just inside the left field foul pole and into the second row of the Crawford Boxes for his 18th home run of the year. Humberto Quintero extended the lead with a solo homer in the fifth and Wigginton upped the lead in the sixth with a 413-foot solo home run to left-center. It marked Wigginton's 19th homer of the year and seventh multi-home run game of his career. "I have the same approach that I went into the season with," Wigginton said. "I feel pretty confident in my swing, and I have always felt that given the at-bats, my numbers would be there." Cincinnati got two runs back in the seventh on an RBI triple to left by Jay Bruce to score Brandon Phillips, who had hit a two-out infield single to start the rally. After an Adam Rosales walk, Corey Patterson hit an RBI single to left field to cut the deficit to 3-2 and chase Backe from the game. Doug Brocail induced a Ryan Hanigan ground out to end in the inning. "It's these getaway games," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. "Aaron threw the ball good. He gave up two solo home runs, but we have to score more offense than that. "Quintero hits his second home run and both of them are against us. We are getting good pitching, but we have to score more runs. We need to know how to run bases." Harang threw his second straight quality start, going seven innings, allowing three runs and seven hits while matching a season high with nine strikeouts. The righthander has won only once since June 13, and his 14th loss is a career high. "Two of (the homers) I was behind in the count," Harang said. "The one to Quintero, I don't know how he got it to stay fair. The two to Wigginton, I thought were my only mistakes. I pretty much put the ball right where I wanted to. "I felt really good. I felt like I was hitting my spots, but I just didn't get those two against Wigginton." The Astros finished the season series with a 10-2 record against the Reds. Houston has won 14 of the last 16 meetings overall. |
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