Castro: Two-hit effort
(c) Houston Astros
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Instead of the AL West, maybe the Astros should be moving to the NL East. Houston took their fourth spring game in five tries against NL East teams with a 10-3 drubbing of the Phillies on Wednesday in Clearwater.
Jordan Schafer drilled three hits, including an RBI double, while J.D. Martinez had two hits and three RBIs to highlight a 15-hit attack. Matt Downs and Jason Castro also had two hits each.
The Astros tallied single runs in each of the first two innings before striking for four runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to build a 10-0 cushion. A two-run error by Kevin Frandsen followed Schafer's RBI double in the fourth.
An RBI double by Martinez, a two-run single by Diory Hernandez and an RBI single by Carlos Corporan highlighted the four-run sixth which also featured a single by prospect Jonathan Singleton, one of the key pieces in the Hunter Pence trade with Philadelphia last July.
Meanwhile, Bud Norris spun three innings of hitless ball, allowing only a walk to Jim Thome above the minimum. Fernando Rodriguez and Jose Valdez allowed three runs in the final two innings after the game was out of reach.
Livan Hernandez will try to keep the momentum going when he faces the Washington Nationals for the second time this spring in a 12:05 Central start at Viera. Just a shame these games don't count.
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