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Chamberlain makes third start as Yankees visit Astros

Jun 13, 2008 - 4:43 PM NY Yankees (34-33) at Houston (33-34), 8:05 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Joba Chamberlain makes his third career start Friday when the New York Yankees visit the Houston Astros in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

Chamberlain (1-2, 2.67 ERA) gradually is being converted from reliever to starter by the Yankees, who have been closely monitoring the righthander's pitch counts.

In his debut as a starter, Chamberlain threw 62 pitches over just 2 1/3 innings of a loss to Toronto. Five days later, he tossed 78 pitches over 4 1/2 frames in Sunday's 6-3 victory over Kansas City.

In his first career road start, Chamberlain will be limited to between 90-95 pitches Friday. The Yankees hope the hard-throwing Chamberlain can lead them to their seventh win in the last 10 games.

Hideki Matsui belted a grand slam and Andy Pettitte pitched eight outstanding innings Thursday to lead New York to a 4-1 victory at Oakland.

Houston has lost 11 of its last 14 games, including Thursday's 9-6 loss here to Milwaukee.

The Astros on Friday give the ball to former Yankee Shawn Chacon (2-2, 4.96), who will aim to bounce back from consecutive losses. The righthander yielded season highs of seven runs and 10 hits Saturday in an 8-4 loss to St. Louis.