Sunday, August 11, 2002
Astros 8, Braves 5
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Lance Berkman's rare day off worked out quite well for the Houston Astros.
“You can't recover from four months of playing on one night off, but it was a nice mental break. It's nice to get a night off and get re-energized,” Berkman said after driving in two runs Saturday in an 8-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Berkman tripled, doubled and scored two runs. He had been in a 10-for-44 slump when manager Jimy Williams gave him a day off Friday, one of only three games the Astros outfielder hasn't started this season.
“It's just one of those things, if you get off to a bad start of the season and turn it around nobody pays an attention. But if you have a bad streak during the season it's more noticeable,” Berkman said.
Rookie Kirk Saarloos won his fifth straight start. The largest crowd of the season in Houston — 43,332 — saw the Astros send the NL East leaders to only their third loss in 12 games.
“It's fun to play in front of a lot of people, too. It kicks your concentration up there. There is a kind of electricity in the air,” Berkman said.
Saarloos (5-2) went 5 2-3 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits. He is now 5-0 with a 2.90 ERA in five starts since being recalled from Triple-A on July 20.
Geoff Blum, who homered, and Jeff Bagwell each drove in two runs as the Astros won for the fifth time in seven games. Jose Vizcaino added four hits.
Billy Wagner, who blew a three-run lead in the ninth Friday night in a game the Astros lost in the 13th, got three outs for his 25th save in 31 chances.
“I've been here long enough to know that I am going to have some rough outings and if you get knocked down you have to get back up,” Wagner said.
Jason Marquis (8-6) pitched one day after he had skipped his turn in the rotation because of flulike symptoms. He lasted only three innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks.
“His velocity was there, he just got a lot of balls up in the zone. He does that from time to time and when he does he gets hit,” observed Atlanta manager Bobby Cox. “I don't think being sick bothered him. He just made too many mistakes and you can't do that against this team in this small ballpark.”
Marquis agreed with Cox.
“Everything was fine, I felt good, I just couldn't locate and I paid the price. I was up all day,” Marquis said.
Gary Sheffield hit an RBI single in the Braves first. The Astros answered in the bottom half with a run-scoring single by Daryle Ward.
Blum led off the second inning with his seventh home run. In the third, Berkman hit an RBI triple and scored on Bagwell's single for a 4-1 lead.
Saarloos retired nine in a row before Andruw Jones hit the first pitch of the fourth inning for his 25th home run to close it to 4-2.
But the Astros put up four runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Berkman, a sacrifice fly by Bagwell and run-scoring singles by Blum and Brad Ausmus.
Down 8-2, the Braves pulled closer in the sixth when Darren Bragg had an RBI single and Keith Lockhart had a two-run double.
Notes: Berkman, who had 26 doubles and 31 home runs, hit his first triple of the season. ... Astros reliever Octavio Dotel appeared in his career-high 62nd game. He made 61 appearances last season. ... 3B Chipper Jones did not start for Atlanta. He got into the game as a pinch-hitter.
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Astros 8, Braves 5
