Carlos Lee, Bill Hall power Astros to win

The Astros once again jumped out to an early lead but unlike past games, they held on to the lead in a 7-3 victory over the Mets. They jumped out quick as they scored four runs in the first inning. It started with Michael Bourn who started the game off with triple, followed by RBI from Clint Barmes, who grounded out to the shortstop. The Stros then rattled off five straight hits that brought home three more runs. Brett Wallace, Chris Johnson, and Bill Hall had back to back to back RBI hits.

The Astros were able to get the long ball working in the later innings as they got three solo shots from Bill Hall, Carlos Lee and pinch hitter Matt Downs.  They were able to get hits from every starter today except catcher Humberto Quintero who went 0-4. Pitcher J.A. Happ even got in the mix, going 1 for 2 and has a batting average of .462 this season.

Happ was just as effective on the mound as he was at the plate today, going six innings while giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four. He was able to lower his ERA down to 5.40 on the season and hopefully can continue this trend as he has only given up two runs each of his last two starts. Happ is now 3-4 on the season. The bullpen was able to close it out for Happ going 3 innings, giving up only one run and striking out two more. Mark Melancon was the one to give up the run in the ninth on an RBI single from Jose Reyes. This was his first run given up in six appearances dating back to April 29th.

One interesting note of fact, and I hate to bring this up because of the chance of jinxing him, but Carlos Lee is currently riding an eight game hit streak, and five of those games have been multi-hit efforts. He has been able to raise his average to .245 and is starting to look more comfortable at the plate. Hopefully, he is able to keep this going and start playing like the Carlos Lee of old. He also reached a milestone today as he recorded his 2,000 hit in the first inning today.

The Astros will be looking for the series win tomorrow as Aneury Rodriguez will lead the Astros against Chris Capuano and the Mets  in a 2:05 PM (ET) start.