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Tejada's RBI triple helps propel Astros past Cubs

Apr 4, 2008 - 10:36 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Miguel Tejada needed five games to make an impact for the Houston Astros.

Tejada's RBI triple in the eighth inning helped propel the Astros to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Rookie J.R. Towles hit a two-run homer and Ty Wigginton added a key sacrifice fly for Houston, which won its second game in five tries to open the 2008 season.

With the scored knotted at 2-2 in the top of the eighth, Tejada lined a pitch from reliever Jon Lieber (0-1) down the left field line that skipped past Alfonso Soriano. The ball rolled to the outfield wall, plating Lance Berkman from first base to put the Astros in front.

Tejada, who was credited with a triple because Soriano never touched the ball as it went past him, entered the game batting just .188 with one RBI in his previous four games.

"The outfield is different this year," Soriano said. "The grass is much quicker. We all are trying to learn how to play this new field."

Wigginton lofted a sacrifice fly to plate Tejada with an important insurance run.

Rookie reliever Westley Wright (1-0) retired the only batter he faced in the seventh to register his first career victory.

Doug Brocail pitched a scoreless eighth before closer Jose Valverde worked around around a one-out solo homer to Mark DeRosa in the ninth for his first save of the season.

The 22-year-old Wright came on after starter Chris Sampson surrendered a game-tying two-run single to Geovany Soto in the frame. Sampson allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"The changeup wasn't working that well," Sampson said. But my fastball, slider and sinker were good. The slider faded on me a bit in the middle. But I was able to get it back functioning in the last couple of innings. All in all, I was happy with my performance and gave my team a chance to win the ballgame."

Cubs starter Rich Hill also was solid, allowing two runs, four hits and three walks in six frames, striking out four.

His only mistake was serving up a two-out, two-run shot to Towles in the fourth.

"I was fortunate enough to get a pitch from Hill that I could handle," Towles said. "I didn't know if it would stay fair because it was a fastball on the inside part of the plate. Luckily it did."

"I thought I pitched pretty well today," Hill said. "I made a mistake to Towles that cost me. But all in all, I'll take it as positive for my next time out."

It was the second career blast for Towles and his first of 2008.

Towles also had high praise for Sampson despite his no-decision.

"Everything was working for Chris today," Towles said. "All of his pitches were good. The defense made some great plays behind him and he was economical with his pitches which gave us a chance to win the ballgame."

DeRosa's homer almost made up for his fielding error in the eighth, allowing Berkman to reach first before Tejada's triple.

"I just botched the ball," DeRosa said. "What can I say?"

Cubs manager Lou Piniella was more concerned about his team's lack of offense to start 2008.

"We've got to start scoring more runs," Piniella said. "You're not going to win scoring two or three runs in this league or any league. You've got to score five-six runs.

"I've said that many, many times. You've got to pitch awfully well. You can't make any mistakes at all when you put two or three runs on the board."

Chicago has scored more than three runs only once, its only win in four games.