Astros drop third in a row in a 5-0 loss

Brewers’ pitcher Shaun Marcum came out and shut down the Astros in the marquee pitching matchup of this series. Brett Myers struggled for the second time this season against the Brewers, giving up four runs over six innings and with three of those runs coming off solo home runs. The Brewers jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead off back to back home runs from Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the first inning. Prince Fielder added an RBI double in the third before Yuniesky Betancourt added a solo shot in the fourth. Myers was able to strike out eight in this game.

The pitching award in this game unfortunately goes to Shaun Marcum who went 7 innings, only giving up three hits and striking out six. Marcum did not allow a runner get past second base, and the Astros were 0-6 with runners in scoring position. The bottom half of the Astros order from 6th to 9th was a combined 0-11 tonight. The only hitter who was able to muster multiple hits was first baseman Brett Wallace, who continues to have a strong season and raised his batting average to .388.

This lack of offense has not been the norm for the Astros as this is the first time all season that they have been shut out. After 26 games last season, the Astros had been shut out four times. It is sometimes tough to find positives in a shut out loss at home but the Astros have been showing signs of improvement, even if they don’t have the best record. The offense has improved greatly over the past year and that is without players like Carlos Lee and Chris Johnson really contributing to this point. If the Astros are able to get these bats going the Astros could have a pretty potent offense, something the team hasn’t had in years now.

Tomorrow, the Astros will be looking to Wandy Rodriguez to help them end this skid as he will take on Brewers’ pitcher and former Astro Randy Wolf.