Astros rally comes up short as they fall to the Cubs

The Chicago Cubs jumped out to an early lead and a late rally by the Astros fell short as Carlos Marmol shut the door on them in game one of the three game series. The Cubs scored four runs in the first two innings and Nelson Figueroa gave up a total of five runs before he left after four innings of work. It seems like this is a recurring theme for the Astros having their starting pitcher struggle. Figueroa did do a good job of getting first strikes against batters as he only fell behind 1-0 to six of the 22 batters he faced.

Ryan Dempster did a great job of keeping Astros batters off balance up until about the 7th inning where he gave up three runs. He did have nine strikeouts but the long ball hurt him as he gave up home runs to Bill Hall and Angel Sanchez, who continues to have a great start to the season. After Dempster, the bullpen was able to get the Cubs back on track and didn’t allow another Astro to cross the plate. Carlos Marmol had to pitch 1 1/3 innings to get the save but got strikeouts for three of his four outs.

The Astros were getting hits which is a good sign to see but they were only 3-12 with Runners in Scoring Position which has been their downfall the last couple of games. Even though the Astros dropped another one, the good news is that Brett Myers is heading to the mound and the Astros have to feel confident with Myers out there with them.