Astros spoil Tommy Hanson's gem

By David O’Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Houston — Time is running out for the Braves in the playoff race, and another late-inning bullpen collapse might also have hurt Tommy Hanson’s bid for National League Rookie of the Year.

The Braves’ phenom was dominant for eight shutout innings Wednesday night, but Rafael Soriano coughed up a ninth-inning lead and Miguel Tejada’s two-out single gave the Houston Astros a 2-1 win against the Braves at Minute Maid Park.

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” said Hanson, denied a 10th win despite allowing just five hits and no walks with seven strikeouts. “Sori’s our guy. Stuff like that is going to happen sometimes.”

Hanson faced only three batters in six different innings and fired 65 strikes in 98 pitches while lowering his ERA to 2.83. But manager Bobby Cox went with Soriano (1-5) for the ninth, and he got just one out before Tejada bounced a bases-loaded single up the middle.

It was the fourth time in six appearances that Soriano has been scored upon, including giving up the only run in Tuesday’s 2-1 Braves win.

“It’s a shame [that Hanson didn’t get a win], the way he pitched,” said Cox, who explained his decision to replace Hanson even though the rookie retired the last seven batters. “He was right at 100 [pitches]. He wanted to go back out; he could have. But you have to be careful.”

He could have allowed Hanson to at least start the ninth and see if he could finish it quickly. But Cox said, “You always want your closer to start a clean inning. And we have confidence in [Soriano].”

No one was happier with that decision to replace Hanson than the Astros.

“Not just me — everybody,” Tejada told the Houston Chronicle. “The way the game was going and he had been pitching, if he had stayed in the game I don’t know if I was going to get another at-bat. ... I mean, the kid is unbelievable. He had unbelievable stuff. He pitched a great game.”

After striking out Michael Bourn to start the ninth, Soriano gave up a single to Kazuo Matsui and a double to Lance Berkman before intentionally walking Carlos Lee to load the bases.

Tejada followed with his game-ending hit that bounced hard past Soriano and over second base into center field, bringing in the tying and winning runs.

“I made the pitch where I wanted to throw it, down and away,” said Soriano, who said his only bad pitch was the one that Berkman drove to left field.

Soriano is 0-4 with a 5.95 ERA and .282 opponents’ average in 22 appearances since July 22, after starting the season with a 1.41 ERA and .150 opponents’ average through 43 appearances.

Hanson was asked if he understood Cox’s decision. “One-hundred percent,” he said. “He’s the manager. I do what he says. Every start, I want to go back out. He’s the one who decides when I come out of games. That’s the way it goes.”

The Braves got one run on three hits in seven innings against Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez, who saw his five-start home winning streak end, but lowered his majors-leading home ERA to 1.58.

Rodriguez said of Hanson: “I could see he had great pitches, he was throwing them all for strikes and they were all dominant. He had a great fastball, 90-plus and great breaking pitches. Oh, I was happy he was gone [in the ninth].”

Yunel Escobar drew a leadoff walk in the second inning and scored on Matt Diaz’s single to stake Hanson to an early lead, and the big redhead took it from there. That is, until Soriano entered.

Lineup shuffle

Escobar hit in the cleanup spot Wednesday and catcher Brian McCann was dropped to fifth. McCann is 5-for-46 (.109) in his past 12 games, with nine strikeouts and no walks.

McCann had a .216 average and .604 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 139 at-bats against lefties before Wednesday, compared to .303 with a .934 OPS in 274 at-bats against right-handers.