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HOUSTON(AP) Florida reached 10 hits for the 14th consecutive game on Tuesday night. The way
Ricky Nolasco
pitched, the Marlins hardly needed them all.
The right-hander struck out 10 in his second complete game of the season, leading Florida to a 6-2 win over the
Houston Astros
on Tuesday night.
''We got the pitching we needed to get,'' Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ''I'm happier with that than I am with the
10 hits.''
Florida's streak of 10-hit games is the longest since the 1937 St. Louis Browns reached the total in 15 straight, according
to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Nolasco allowed only three hits and struck out at least one in seven of nine innings, completing the fifth complete game by
a Marlins pitcher this season.
Dan Uggla
,
Jorge Cantu
and
Jeremy Hermida
hit solo homers for the Marlins, who've won nine of 11.
While the Marlins piled up the hits again, Nolasco dominated the Astros, retiring 23 in a row after
Carlos Lee
's two-run homer in the first inning. Nolasco (9-8) threw 115 pitches, 80 for strikes, bouncing back well after giving up
10 runs on eight hits against the Astros a week ago in Miami.
''Last time against the Astros, he didn't do very good,'' said
Hanley Ramirez
, who had three hits and scored a run. ''We knew he could do it. The most important thing was he saved our bullpen.''
Nolasco didn't change much after the shaky first inning.
''I just made a couple of mistakes there,'' Nolasco said. ''From there on, I just tried to get my pitches out in front and
mixed it up.''
Lance Berkman
doubled off the center-field wall before Lee homered to left on the first pitch he saw. Lee has hit seven home runs with 27
RBIs in his last 28 games.
Ramirez led off the fourth with a single to left and later scored on
John Baker
's sacrifice fly. Uggla then tied it with a solo homer to right, his 22nd of the season.
Lee drove a 2-1 pitch to the wall in left-center in the Houston fourth, but
Cody Ross
caught it on the warning track. Nolasco struck out
Geoff Blum
to end the inning, then fanned
Hunter Pence
and
Chris Coste
in the fifth.
''He mixed us up a lot and got a lot of first pitch strikes on us,''
Michael Bourn
said. ''He wasn't missing with too many pitches, and when a pitcher is doing that, it's kind of tough to get at him.''
The Astros lost for the sixth time in eight games after trading catcher
Ivan Rodriguez
to Texas earlier in the day.
Rookie
Bud Norris
(3-1) gave up five runs on nine hits in 5 2-3 innings to lose for the first time in four major-league starts.
Norris had retired five in a row when Cantu homered into the left-field porch. Baker doubled to the gap in left center, prompting
a mound visit by Houston pitching coach
Dewey Robinson
.
Uggla then beat out an infield single and Norris hit Ross with a pitch to load the bases. Hermida singled to right to drive
home Baker and one out later, Norris walked
Chris Coghlan
to make it 5-2.
Hermida homered to right center off
Sammy Gervacio
in the eighth, Florida's 10th hit.
''It was pretty cool, how it kind of worked out in dramatic fashion, that it (the 10th hit) was a home run,'' Baker said.
''That was pretty exciting.''
Nolasco struck out
Jason Michaels
leading off the Astros' ninth. Bourn beat out a bouncer in front of the plate to snap Nolasco's streak of outs. Nolasco retired
Miguel Tejada
and Berkman on flyouts to end it.
NOTES: Marlins 1B
Nick Johnson
was out of the starting lineup to rest a sore right hamstring. Manager Fredi Gonzalez said he was just playing it safe after
Johnson left the first game of Sunday's doubleheader against Colorado. ''He's day-to-day,'' Gonzalez said. ''We're just going
to take it easy with him.'' ... The Astros placed LHP
Mike Hampton
on the 15-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain and recalled RHP
Felipe Paulino
from Triple-A Round Rock. The move is retroactive to Aug. 14, the day after Hampton left his start against Florida with the
injury.
Yorman Bazardo
(0-0) will take Hampton's place in the rotation this week and start Wednesday's game.
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