Lee: Two bombs blow it open
(c) Associated Press
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For five innings, Bud Norris looked like he was headed for another hard-luck loss on Wednesday but the righthander completed six innings of four-hit pitching then watched the offense, who had been held to just one hit to that point, switch it on and coast to an 8-1 victory over the Cubs, extending the Wednesday winning streak to a dozen.
After Hunter Pence doubled home Lance Berkman in the sixth, Carlos Lee whacked a two-run shot off the "fowl pole" in left to give the Astros a lead they'd never relinquish. Lee followed that with a second two-run shot the following inning into the Crawfords for a 5-1 edge. From there, the bats piled on to finish with 13 hits. Pence, Berkman and Lee all had multi-hit games, as did Jason Castro.
After a boot by Anderson Hernandez got Norris into trouble in the first, Norris bore down to give up just one run on a sacrifice fly. He also wriggled out of jams in the third and fifth, striking out seven.
From there, Wilton Lopez and Brandon Lyon pitched a scoreless inning each before Fernando Abad made his big league debut to wrap it up.
The Astros will get a rest on Thursday before the Milwaukee Brewers come to town Friday for a 7:05 Central weekend opener. Manny Parra (3-7) will pitch for the Brew Crew while Roy Oswalt (6-12) is slated to throw for Houston unless the deal with Philadelphia goes through before then. If Roy stays, he'll try again to tie Joe Niekro's franchise victory mark.
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