Backe: Early exit.
(c) Associated Press
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It looked good early when Carlos Lee pounded a three-run homer but leads are never safe at Wrigley Field as Brandon Backe found out. The Galveston native was stung for eight runs in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth in an 11-4 shellacking Wednesday afternoon.
Mark DeRosa blasted a grand slam to key the big inning. Alfonso Soriano followed with a three-run shot. Tim Byrdak went longer in relief (3-2/3rds innings) than Backe lasted as the starter. LaTroy Hawkins struck out the side in a ho-hum eighth.
The Astros next fly the short distance to Cincinnati to open up a four-game series. Roy Oswalt (8-8) takes the mound in the 6:10 Central start Thursday evening. Josh Fogg (2-3) gets the nod for the Reds, who have lost four of the five games thus far in the season series.
Oswalt is 20-1 against the Reds lifetime while Lance Berkman leads all visiting players in career homers at the Great American Ballpark. Hopefully, that trend will hold, particularly for Berkman whose homerless streak has now gone on for over a month.
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