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Pence propels Astros past Phillies

May 24, 2008 - 4:22 AM By Ted Dunnam PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) - Hunter Pence delivered some blows, Jose Valverde absorbed one and Brandon Backe did his best to avoid them as the Houston Astros held on for a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

Pence belted a pair of solo home runs and made a solid defensive play in the ninth inning to help make a winner of Backe (4-5), who recorded his third consecutive quality start. The righthander allowed one run and six hits while striking out six in 7 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.

After Doug Brocail recorded the next two outs, Astros closer Jose Valverde survived a scary ninth to pick up his league-leading 15th save of the season.

"The difference in the game is the way Brandon Backe came out and set the tone for us," Pence said.

"The bullpen came in and shut the door. Valverde probably did one of the most amazing things I've ever seen on a baseball field."

In the ninth inning, a line drive by Pedro Feliz caromed off Valverde's glove and hit in him in the face. Pat Burrell, who belted a solo homer earlier in the contest, came around to score to cut the Astros' lead to 4-2.

"I'm on third base, and I was frozen," Burrell said. "I saw the ball carom in the air and I thought it was going to the shortstop. It all happened real fast.

"You don't want to see that happen. Fortunately, it hit his glove first. You've to give him a lot of credit for hanging in there."

After Valverde bounced back to strike out pinch hitter Chris Coste, last season's National League Most Valuable Player Jimmy Rollins doubled to right field. Pence alertly cut the ball off before it could roll to the wall, holding the game's potential tying run - speedy Eric Bruntlett - on third in the process.

Shane Victorino flied out to center to end the game.

Backe was obviously pleased with another solid outing.

"The whole game I felt pretty good," Backe said. "I was finding the strike zone and pounding it in there.

"It got a little hairy there in the third inning, but I just mixed it up enough to keep them off balance."

Valverde was stunned more than hurt in his short stint.

"I feel good right now. Everything is good," Valverde said. "I saw a couple of nights ago, Albert Pujols hit some guy (Chris Young) for San Diego.

"I said, 'Oh, my goodness, I don't want to be like that.' When I stood up, I felt a little dizzy and I said, 'You know what? I have to finish the game.'"

Valverde managed to deflect the ball to avoid serious injury.

"It touched my glove a little bit ... thank you, God," Valverde said. "If it hadn't hit my glove, I don't know what would happen.

"All the guys were more scared than me, I think. Everything is OK. I never lost consciousness."

With Houston clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning, former Phillie Michael Bourn plated J.R. Towles with an RBI single.

Carlos Lee's sacrifice fly in the eighth scored Lance Berkman to give the Astros a 4-1 advantage.

Adam Eaton (0-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in eight innings to pick up the loss.

"I went out there and had some success early," Eaton said. "Obviously, I made a few mistakes. Those two home runs that Pence got were up and over the plate. If you asked him where he'd like them, he'd probably say right where I threw them."