After scoring five runs in the first 26 innings of their key series with the Giants, the Stros imporbably rallied for five runs in the ninth around Lance Berkman‘s three run yak to pull out a dramatic 7-3 win over the Giants in a wild one on Thursday night in San Francisco.
With the win, the Stros are 2Ω games behind the Cubs, who took a half-game lead over the Giants in the National League Wild Card race by winning on Thursday. The Giants also dropped 1Ω games behind Dodgers in the National League West Division race, which is about to get very interesting as the Giants play the Dodgers in six of their final nine games.
The home run was sweet for Berkman, who had several adventures while pursuing balls hit by Barry Bonds during the game. He badly misplayed Bonds’ triple to right in the fifth and then fell on his backside while catching Bonds’ drive in the seventh. Although Berkman’s natural position is first base, he actually is an above-average outfielder. But man, he sure does look funny sometimes going after balls in the outfield.
Even Berkman’s tater was unusual, as he lifted it high in the air and it barely reached the first row of seats in the elevated arcade on the right-field wall. Jason Lane then followed with an RBI pinch hit single and Raul Chavez‘s sacrifice bunt also plated a run. Carlos Beltran also busted out of a mini-slump with three hits for the Stros, who ended up with 10 hits despite only having five through eight innings against Giants starter Jason Schmidt.
The game got a bit chippy after Berkman’s yak in the ninth when Giants reliever Dustin Hermanson and manager Felipe Alou were ejected after Hermanson hit Jeff Kent with the first pitch after Berkman’s tater. Both clubs had been warned after a bench-clearing incident in the third, when Stros’ starter Brandon Backe dusted off Bonds with a low pitch. Though there were no punches or ejections in that incident, Bonds went nuclear over the low throw, gesturing and yelling at Backe and nearly sticking his fingers in the mask of the home plate umpire.
Dan Miceli got the win by getting one out in the eighth, and Brad Lidge secured the win by striking out three in the ninth as a parade of six Stros relievers bailed starter Backe out after he could last just 2 1/3rd innings.
The Stros now go to Milwaukee for a weekender with the Brew Crew as the Rocket opens the series in going for this 19th victory. Pete Munro and then “who knows” follow in the next two games of the Brewers series before the Stros return to the Juice Box to close out the season with six games against the Cards and the Rockies.