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Sunday, Jul. 23 3:05pm ET
Benes to showers in 2nd after allowing 9 | |||||
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GAME UPDATE
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
HOUSTON (AP) -- Bill Spiers doesn't usually hit home runs. Sunday was an exception. Spiers homered twice and drove in six runs, and the Houston Astros hit a record-tying four homers off Andy Benes in the second inning in a 15-7 romp over the St. Louis Cardinals. Lance Berkman also connected twice as the Astros tied a team mark with six home runs in a game. "That's not me, I just got lucky," Spiers said. "The guys always tell me I don't have any pop and they're right." Benes became the 17th major league pitcher to allow four home runs in one inning. The previous time also occurred at Enron Field on April 27 when the Chicago Cubs did it against Jose Lima. "I've never had this rough an outing," Benes said. "I don't like to point fingers, but you can point the finger at me. I was the only guy who had a bad day." After taking a 9-0 lead after two innings, it still took Spiers' grand slam in the seventh to clinch it. "It's just disappointing, because any other time you put a team down 9-0 after two innings and you can forget about them," Benes said. "But our guys came back and made a game of it. It was amazing." Spiers homered in the big second inning and added a grand slam in the seventh. "You don't expect home runs from him, you expect him to hit the ball and drive in runs," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "When he hits home runs, it's a bonus." It was the third grand slam of Spiers' career and the 37th and 38th homers of his 10-year major league career. His last slam was in 1991 against the Detroit Tigers. The Astros began their burst against Benes (10-5) on Julio Lugo's triple in the second. After Shane Reynolds (7-7) struck out, Spiers followed with his second homer of the season. Craig Biggio singled, and Jeff Bagwell and Berkman hit consecutive home runs. With two outs, Hidalgo connected and chased Benes in his shortest outing of the season. The four homers in an inning set an Astros record. Berkman homered off brothers Andy and Alan Benes. "I was fortunate to get two pitches I could handle," Berkman said. "They were both fastballs but those are two good pitchers. It's not something I'm going to do every day." Nor did he object to Spiers getting most of the attention. "I get two home runs and get overshadowed and we get a win like this, I'll take it every time," Berkman said. Reynolds snapped a string of five straight losses. He allowed two hits over the first four innings before Craig Paquette reached on Spiers' error at third, Rick Wilkins singled and Fernando Vina hit a three-run homer. Paquette's grounder gave St. Louis another run in the sixth. Reynolds left after 6 2/3 innings. Fernando Tatis hit a two-run single in the seventh off reliever Marc Valdes. Spiers and Berkman homered in a six-run seventh. The seven homers brought the total to 160 hit at Enron Field this season, compared to 118 for all of last season in the Astrodome. Jason Green, called up from the minors Saturday, made his major league debut and pitched 1 2/3 innings for the Astros. He was pulled after walking Placido Polanco with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. The Astros beat the Cardinals 10-5 on Saturday. "It's been two days in a row this has happened to us," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Our pitching just didn't get it done the last two days, but you have to credit the Astros." Game notesCardinals catcher Mike Matheny has caught a major league best 53 percent of attempted basestealers. ... Jim Edmonds leads the Cardinals with 34 multi-hit games. ... The Astros are closing in on the club record of 82 home runs at home. They've hit 80 this season. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard St. Louis Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 1 Chi. White Sox 0
Houston 15
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