Astros Get Some Relief

Jimy Williams got just enough out of Pete Munro in his first start of the year for Houston. The Milwaukee Brewers certainly made it close against the Astro relievers.

Jose Vizcaino and Jeff Kent each hit solo home runs, and the Astro bullpen held on for a 5-4 victory Sunday.

“We pieced it together with those relievers and kept scrapping to get the victory,” Williams said after the Astros salvaged the last game of the three-game series.

Munro, signed by the Astros on June 3 as a free agent after being released by Minnesota, gave up seven hits and one run in four innings.

The Brewers made it close by scoring two runs in the eighth inning against closer Octavio Dotel to cut the lead to one run.

Dotel pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get his 12th save. Dan Miceli (3-2) pitched a perfect fifth inning for the victory.

Williams replaced Munro in the fifth inning, even though he was pitching a shutout, after he gave up a leadoff double to Junior Spivey.

“I just felt with the two left-handers [Geoff Jenkins and Lyle Overbay] coming up, it was the right move to make,” Williams said. “It obviously didn’t work like I planned.”

Three pitches after Williams replaced Munro, Jenkins hit a two-run homer against Mike Gallo.

Brad Lidge pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning by striking out Keith Ginter, Ben Grieve and Chad Moeller. He also struck out Jenkins, but Jenkins reached after catcher Brad Ausmus couldn’t handle Lidge’s wild pitch.

The four strikeouts tied a major league record accomplished 45 previous times. The last time it was done was by Dotel on June 11, 2003.

The Brewers stranded 10 runners in scoring position.