Pence: Sliding home
(c) Associated Press
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Hunter Pence had four hits, homered and drove in three Friday night but when he goes to sleep, he'll probably think about the one out instead. It came with two outs and two men on in the bottom of the ninth, down by two, 6-4, when he lined out to center field to end the game.
Angel Sanchez singled against Cincinnati closer Francisco Cordero then Lance Berkman followed with a one-out walk. But Carlos Lee flew out and Pence jumped on Cordero's first pitch which nestled safely into the glove of fellow Houston draftee Drew Stubbs to pull the Redlegs to within one game of the Redbirds atop the NL Central.
Young hurlers Bud Norris and Travis Wood pitched to a 4-4 draw through six innings and Wilton Lopez tossed a scoreless seventh for Houston before the Reds jumped on Tim Byrdak in the eighth. Joey Votto, who had homered earlier, and Jonny Gomes singled before Jay Bruce spanked a double to break the tie. Nelson Figueroa made his Houston debut and Stubbs lofted a sacrifice fly off of him for a 6-4 lead.
The Astros managed to put two men on in both the eighth and the ninth only to come up short.
Roy Oswalt (6-11) tries again to tie Joe Niekro's franchise victory mark on his way out of town when he faces the Reds' Johnny Cueto (9-2) in a 6:05 Central duel. Oswalt is 23-2 lifetime when pitching against Cincinnati. A 24th win would mean quite a lot.
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