Game 44: Astros 5, Blue Jays 2

Chris Johnson's homer proved to be the difference on Friday.

Talk about a much-needed win. The Astros broke their 5-game losing streak and extended Jo-Jo Reyes' 26-game start losing streak by beating the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night with a total team effort in their first-ever visit to America's Hat.

Several things I liked about this one, but the performance of young Aneury Rodriguez (0-2, 6.00 ERA) is worth mentioning first. Rodriguez threw 5.1 innings of risky baseball, surrendering 8 hits but only 2 ER (one of which was given up by the enigmatic Enerio Del Rosario). While he doesn't have a dominant pitch- he's mostly a fastball and changeup guy- and while I'm also wary of the fact that his good starts usually come against teams that have never seen him before, Rodriguez still got outs when it mattered most, keeping the Astros in it for the whole contest. I'm not sure how long he's going to last in the rotation, as he does give up runs in bunches, but if he can string together a couple of good starts, he looks like a pitcher who could get on a roll.

'Twas refreshing to finally see the bats wake up as well. After being held scoreless by the likes of Reyes for 7 innings, Hunter Pence slapped a two-out double to right against big Jon Rauch in the 8th, plating Michael Bourn and Clint Barmes. While I bashed Chris Johnson on Twitter during the game, he was able to deposit a Frank Francisco fastball over the wall in left to give the Astros a 4-2 lead. One more run was tacked on when Bourn reached on an infield single, scoring Angel Sanchez, who had advanced to third on a nifty baserunning move. This team has hit the opposing bullpen well all year, and while I wouldn't call them the Cardiac Kids just yet, it's at least comforting to know that even if the starter is mowing down Astros, there's still a shot in the later innings against the relievers. Hey, that's probably what other teams think when they face us...

Another critique of Brad Mills strategy: I emphasized it in a previous post, but why isn't Wilton Lopez the closer? He worked a scoreless 8th inning, striking out the side in good morning, good afternoon, good night fashion. While Mark Melancon turned in a fine 9th by inducing a double play to end the game for just his second save, it's still a bit silly that the best reliever in the bullpen is pitching the 8th. I agree that Melancon had been the best guy up until the Brandon Lyon injury, but now that Lopez is obviously back and good as ever, why isn't he closing? It doesn't look like things will change anytime soon either, as it would be rather nonsensical for Mills to try a third different closer when Lyon recovers from his biceps tendinitis. Whether Melancon stays put or Lyon reclaims his spot will be interesting to see, but the fact remains that neither of them should be trying to get the last three outs anyway.

Brett Myers battles Brandon Morrow tomorrow (pun intended) at 12:07 pm (what is up with these Canadians and their starting times??) in the second game of the series.