Astros-Cubs: Houston Takes Game One

The Cubs lost the first of a three-game set against the Houston Astros 4-3.

Geovany Soto drove in the first two runs for the Cubs in the bottom of seventh with a two-run single. Mark Derosa homered in the ninth, but committed a costly error in the inning before that allowed the Astros to score twice. Rich Hill, who was on the mound for the Cubs pitched six innings, allowing two earned on four hits, while striking out four. Jon Lieber ended up taking the loss in the game, in part because of the sloppy defense played by the Cubs in the eighth inning.

For the Astros, catcher J.R. Towles hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give the Astros a 2-0 lead. Miguel Tejada broke a two-all tie with a RBI triple in the eighth and ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ty Winnington. Chris Sampson pitched six -and-two-thirds innings, allowing only two earned runs on six hits. Jose Velverde came on in the bottom of the ninth to nail down his first save as an Astro.

Tomorrow Jason Marquis will be on the mound for the Cubs and the Astros will send their ace Roy Oswalt to toe the rubber.

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