Jorge Cantu hit a three-run home run and rookie Chris Volstad pitched eight strong innings to lead the Florida Marlins to a 5-1 win over the Astros on Tuesday night.
The Astros, who have lost three straight games, entered 2½ games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League wild-card race. The Phillies now lead the NL East over the Mets, who are three games ahead of the Astros for the wild card.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get our offense going a little bit,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. “Either they’re making good pitches or we’re not making good swings. Something’s not happening.”
Cantu’s three-run homer in the first inning stopped Houston ace Roy Oswalt’s franchise-record scoreless innings streak at 32 1/3 innings. Oswalt (15-10), who lasted at least eight innings in five of his previous six starts, allowed five runs - three earned - and six hits in six innings. He struck out 10 batters to tie his season high.
“We’re playing the same way we did a month ago. We’re just trying to go out there and play nine innings and see if we can win,” Oswalt said. “Tonight, we got behind early and never caught up.”
Volstad (5-3) gave up four hits in his first start against the Astros and the second-longest outing of his career. The rookie right-hander struck out four batters and didn’t walk any.
“After the game someone told me 97 pitches, 72 fastballs,” Volstad said. “I just mixed in some off-speed pitches to keep them off-balance but it was mostly the two-seamer.”
Florida’s lineup rattled Oswalt early. After Cantu’s homer - his 27th - Dan Uggla scored on a Cody Ross double to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead. Oswalt then hit Alfredo Amezaga with a pitch, which drew warnings for both teams.
In the second, Mike Jacobs doubled to the deepest part of Dolphin Stadium to score Hanley Ramirez and make it 5-0. Oswalt settled down after Jacobs’ double, but the damage was done.
“When you make mistakes, they make you pay,” Cooper said. “These guys are one of the better hitting clubs as far as hitting home runs, and in this ballpark if you make a mistake and you get it out over the plate, they usually hurt you.”
Michael Bourn doubled to open the eighth and eventually scored on Kazuo Matsui’s groundout to make it 5-1.
Ramirez, who scored two runs for Florida, doubled in the seventh inning and Amezaga hit his second triple in two games in the eighth.
The Astros had won 14 of 15 before Hurricane Ike convinced Major League Baseball to move two home games against the NL-leading Chicago Cubs to Milwaukee, where Houston struggled in getting one hit in two games.
“We’re just not getting the job done,” Ausmus said. “We haven’t done anything offensively. We’re barely scraping out a run.”
Houston got no-hit by Carlos Zambrano to lose the opener 5-0, then was held to one hit in a 6-1 defeat Monday.
“We haven’t hit well the last several games and a lot of that is who we’ve been facing,” Astros first baseman Lance Berkman said. “(Volstad) has a deceptive fastball, a lot of late movement on it. This is a good team. They were in contention until just a little bit ago.”
