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Friday, Jul. 14 7:05pm ET
Big field helps Holt get on track | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
DETROIT (AP) -- Compared to cozy Enron Field, spacious Comerica Park seemed like the Grand Canyon to Houston right-hander Chris Holt. Holt won for the first time since June 3 and Craig Biggio singled, doubled and tripled as the Astros defeated the Detroit Tigers 9-4 Friday night. Holt (4-10) allowed four runs on nine hits in 7 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks. "I like this ballpark. It's very different from Enron," Holt said. "This is more like the Astrodome. You can groove some balls when you're behind in the count and not expect them to go out of the park. "Today I used mostly curveballs and fastballs. I used very few sliders or changeups." Holt has a 1.84 ERA in five appearances against American League teams the last two years. He gave up two runs in the first inning, but settled down to work six scoreless innings before the Tigers chased him with two in the eighth. "He actually has the best combination of pitches of any starter on our club," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "He has the best command of all four of his pitches, the fastball, slider, curveball and change. He's really been a hard-luck pitcher most of his career. We just don't seem to score runs for him." Lance Berkman, Mitch Meluskey and Richard Hidalgo homered for the Astros, who have won three of five, but just seven of their last 25. Biggio was 3-for-5, scored once and drove in a run. Needing a homer for the cycle in the eighth, he grounded out sharply to third. "Well, I was just trying to hit the ball hard," Biggio said. "I enjoy hitting in this park. It's built for my type of game, a contact game. There's a lot of space between the outfielders." Though batting an uncharacteristic .259, Biggio is 5-for-11 the last three games and 4-for-8 in the first two games of the series with Detroit. "I've been feeling better the last three weeks at the plate. My confidence is coming back and I'm feeling more comfortable every at-bat," Biggio said. "To say the very least, this has been a very frustrating year for me, and it's been there ever since spring training." Hidalgo had three hits, scored three times and had two RBI. Bobby Higginson had three hits and two RBI for the Tigers. Hideo Nomo (3-8) gave up nine hits, including two homers, and six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. "To me, Houston knows his pitches; he must be tipping his pitches," Tigers manager Phil Garner said. "They've had some pretty good numbers off him in the past." Nomo has won just one of his last six decisions, and his ERA rose to 5.00. "I was feeling good, but my location was not good," Nomo said through an interpreter. "My pitches were a little high. "They picked up some (pitches), but location is still the most important thing. My location was not very great." Rich Becker doubled and scored on Higginson's double before Dean Palmer's run-scoring single gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the first. Bill Spiers hit a two-out double and scored on Biggio's single in the third. The Astros jumped ahead with a four-run fourth as Berkman led off with his 13th home run, Hidalgo hit a run-scoring single, and Meluskey added a two-run shot, his 10th homer of the year. Biggio led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Moises Alou's sacrifice fly. Two more runs scored on third baseman Palmer's throwing error on Meluskey's infield single, putting Houston up 8-2. Hidalgo hit a solo homer, his 24th, off Matt Anderson in the seventh. The Tigers chased Holt with a two-run eighth as Becker hit a sacrifice fly and Higginson an RBI single. Game notesNomo has allowed 22 homers, tied for second-most in the AL behind Kansas City's Jeff Suppan's 24. ... Meluskey's 10th home run made him just the eighth Astros rookie with double-digit homers and first since Jeff Bagwell hit 15 and Luis Gonzalez 13 in 1991. ... The Tigers will retire former outfielder Willie Horton's uniform number 23 and unveil a statue of him prior to the game Saturday against the Astros. The statue, located beyond the left-center field wall, joins those of Tigers Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Ty Cobb and Hal Newhouser that were already in place when Comerica Park opened in April. ... Bagwell scored his 1,000th career run in the fifth. Bagwell and Biggio are the only players to score 1,000 runs for the Astros. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Houston Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS NY Mets 6 Boston 4
Houston 9
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