Norris Strong, Morton Stronger

Bud Norris pitched a great game tonight going 7 innings while allowing 3 earned runs, walking 2, and striking out 9. All of his earned runs came in the 2^nd when Lyle Overbay led off the frame with a solo homerun, and later in the inning Andrew McCutchen doubled in Chris Snyder and Ronny Cedeno to take the early 3-0 lead. That was all Norris would allow however, and wound up striking out 9 pirates on the night. As good as Norris was Charlie Norton was better for the Pirates. Norton went 7 2/3 innings while only allowing 1 run.

On the offensive side of things the Astros failed to get much of anything going against the Pirates last night. Brad Mills tried to generate as much offense as possible by substituting Bill Hall with the hot Jason Bourgeois, and the struggling Chris Johnson with the steady Angel Sanchez. But the two went a combined 1 for 7 last night, and Jason Bourgeois left the game with a strained oblique. Mills stated that they would wait and see how Jason felt in the morning and re-evaluate him before deciding if he might miss an extended period of time. Michael Bourn was 2 for 4 on the night, and was your only Astro to have a multi-hit game.

The game was put out of reach in the 8^th inning when reliever Jose Valdez left with the bases loaded after recording two outs. Enario Del Rosario came in to finish the inning, but allowed all inherited runners to score. That brought the game to its final score of 6-1. J.A. Happ will take the mound today to try and win the series against the Pirates.