Sunday, July 11, 1999
Astros 3, Royals 2
Houston trails Reds by only .001
BY DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pitching for the first time in 10 days, Mike Hampton was worried. He didn't need to be.
Hampton pitched seven strong innings and then let his bullpen work out of jams in the eighth and ninth as the Astros beat Kansas City 3-2 Saturday night.
“I was concerned about my control, but it was actually pretty good,” said Hampton, whose 3.02 ERA is second in the NL.
After missing his last start with a sore left wrist, Hampton (11-3) gave up nine hits and two runs, with two walks and three strikeouts in seven-plus innings.
“I wasn't worried about his stamina but I was worried about his location,” interim manager Matt Galante said. “He had missed what amounts to a start and a half. Usually when you miss that much time, you have a tendency not to have his best location. But he was good.”
Hampton, one of three Astros pitchers to make the All-Star team, shut out the Royals through seven innings. Then Kansas City loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth off Hampton on a walk and singles by Rey Sanchez and Carlos Beltran.
Jose Cabrera got Joe Randa on a shallow fly, but then gave up a two-run single to Johnny Damon. With the tying run on third, Cabrera got Mike Sweeney and Jermaine Dye on shallow fly balls.
Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 22nd save in 23 chances. With one out, he walked Jeremy Giambi and Jed Hansen — just his 10th and 11th walks of the year. Wagner then retired Sanchez on a groundout and needed only three pitches to strike out Beltran, who had three hits.
Kevin Appier (8-7) struck out a season-high seven but gave up three runs on nine hits in eight innings in his first career start against the Astros.
“That's as good as I've felt in a while,” Appier said. “Unfortunately, it wasn't quite good enough.”
Jack Howell, who spent most of last season on the DL with a dislocated left wrist, hit a solo homer to right-center with one out in the fourth, his first homer in more than a year, to make it 2-0.
Jeff Bagwell walked with one out in the fifth, stole second and came home on an RBI single by Bill Spiers. Bagwell leads the majors in runs scored (80) and walks (82).
The Royals, who have lost eight of their last 11 games, dropped to 3-8 in interleague play and are the only AL Central team without a winning record against the NL.
“Kevin threw well. Usually when you give up only three earned runs, you think you can win,” Royals catcher Chad Kreuter said. “But Hampton just gave up two earned runs. He threw really well.”
The Royals had runners at second and third with nobody out in the sixth, but Sanchez was cut down at the plate on a close play trying to score from third on Randa's grounder to third baseman Spiers. Hampton then got Damon to hit one of the Royals' three double-play grounders.
Beltran got a standing ovation from the crowd of 30,000 when he banged into the wall in the deepest part of center field to catch Tom Bogar's drive in the fourth.
NOTES: The Astros lost two runners at second base on the same play. Richard Hidalgo was at first when Howell hit a grounder to shortstop with one out in the second. Second baseman Hansen took the throw for the force out of Hidalgo, but then threw wildly to first. First baseman Mike Sweeney recovered the ball and threw to Hansen in time for him to tag out Howell sliding into second. ... Hank Aaron, in Kansas City to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his breaking Babe Ruth's career home run second, appeared on field before the game and received a big ovation. He was supposed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, but asked to be excused because of a sore arm. ... Randa singled in the first, giving him hits in seven straight at-bats. His streak ended when left fielder Matt Mieske came running in for an outstanding shoestring catch of Randa's sinking liner in the third. ... The Astros put SS Ricky Gutierrez on the DL with an injury to his left wrist. INF Russ Johnson was recalled from Triple-A New Orleans.
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