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Tuesday, Apr. 25 8:05pm ET
Reynolds rapped, but rolls record to 4-0 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
HOUSTON (AP) -- Shane Reynolds' fourth straight victory wasn't exactly a classic performance. Reynolds improved to 4-0, the best start of his major league career, by throwing 125 pitches in six innings as the Houston Astros outslugged the Chicago Cubs 11-7 Tuesday night. It was a typical game at quirky Enron Field with its short fences down the lines and huge power alleys. "This is completely different," said Reynolds, who allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings as the Astros snapped a three-game skid. "You can't expect to have games here like you've had the last 30 years in the Astrodome. "You just can't worry about ERAs and statistics anymore. You just have to pitch your game, stay aggressive and try to keep your team in the game. "Don't get me wrong. Guys are still going to have good games here. But teams are going to score runs, and you just have to realize that we're going to get our chances to hit, too. And you have to keep thinking the game's not over until the last out is made." Teams have combined for 35 home runs in 10 games at Enron, and most of the Astros' pitching staff has seemingly been psyched out by the park. Manager Larry Dierker hopes his staff will learn from Reynolds' performance. "Shane pitched pretty well even though he wasn't probably as sharp as he would've liked to be," Dierker said. "And he told me after the game, "We can't worry about stats.' He said this is a war and we've just got to pitch to win." Cubs manager Don Baylor was surprised Reynolds did just that. "He had 130 pitches in six innings and won the game," Baylor said. "Normally with that many pitches in six innings, you don't win the game." Scott Downs threw 93 in five-plus innings and lost. Downs (1-1) allowed six runs and nine hits. "If you look at this park and think too much, you're going to overpitch," Downs said. "But I just wasn't sharp and I didn't have command. The ball is going to carry here." Craig Biggio, who went 2-for-4, had two RBIs and extended a career-high hitting streak to 15 games, said it was most important to just win after the team lost six of its previous seven games. "We just needed a win no matter how it came," Biggio said. "This was big for us. We had to stop the bleeding." Moises Alou went 4-for-4 and Richard Hidalgo had three RBI as the Astros stopped a three-game losing streak. Ricky Gutierrez had three RBIs on a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly for Chicago, but struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning. The Cubs have lost four straight, allowing 41 runs in that span. Jeff Bagwell hit his seventh homer of the season for Houston, a solo shot that tied the game at 2 in the third inning. Alou added an RBI single in the inning. The Cubs took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on Gutierrez's sacrifice fly and Sammy Sosa's RBI double. The Astros then went ahead for good in the sixth. Tony Eusebio had an RBI single, Biggio bounced a two-run, bases-loaded single over third baseman Shane Andrews' head and Russ Johnson had a run-scoring single. Chicago closed the margin in the seventh with Henry Rodriguez's two-run homer, his fourth of the year. Houston added four runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Bill Spiers, a two-run double by Hidalgo and a sacrifice fly by Alou. The Cubs jumped on Reynolds early. Eric Young doubled off the left-field wall to start the game and Gutierrez followed with his third homer of the season. The Astros answered in the bottom half when Biggio led off with a single and moved to third on Bagwell's one-out double and scored on Hidalgo's sacrifice fly. Game notesThe Astros improved to 3-7 at home. ... Biggio's single in the first inning gave him a career high 15-game hitting streak. His previous high of 14 was set in 1997. Biggio went 0-for-4 opening day this season, but has hit in every game since. ... The Astros lead the league in hit by pitches with 15 and have been hit in six of the last seven games. ... Downs got his first major league hit with a single in the fourth inning ... The Cubs have homered in each of the last nine games. Cubs are 6-11 in games in which they have homered. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Chicago Cubs Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse RECAPS Minnesota 6 NY Yankees 1
Houston 11
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