The Houston Astros defeated the Texas Rangers 8-2 in the Season Opener as the MLB 2013 campaign began with the underdog winning the first game of the year. Norris had a solid outing going 5.2 innings giving up 2 ER 3BB and 5 strikeouts as the Astros also received timely hitting.
Rick Ankiel put one in the seats as the veteran faced another veteran, Derek Lowe. Ankiel sent a pitch, that Lowe left right over the plate, over the right field wall for the biggest blow of the game. It was a three-run home run that gave the Astros a 7-2 lead.
The Astros struck first in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run triple by Justin Maxwell off the top of the scoreboard in right field that missed being a home run by about a yard. Carlos Pena and Brett Wallace scored the first runs of the game.
Matt Harrison was solid throughout the game striking out ))) batters, but he got roughed up again in the bottom of the fifth as Ronny Cedeno lined a single to right field. Nelson Cruz bobbled the ball and Brandon Barnes scored all the way from first on the hit and run. Their All-Star, Jose Altuve, then drove in Cedeno to give Norris a secure 4-0 lead with four more innings remaining.
The Rangers answered back in the top of the sixth by piling hit after hit. David Murphy drove in the first Rangers run of the year with a groundball single to right field. Nelson Cruz made it a 4-2 game with a sharp grounder past the diving Cedeno. The interesting part of this rally was that their third base slugger, Adrian Beltre lined a shot right bat to Norris, which he caught with his outstretched glove, retiring the dangerous batter.
A good and interesting story from tonight's matchup was Erik Bedard who came in to pitch in the sixth inning in relief of Norris. He pitched 3.1 clean innings giving up a hit to Nelson Cruz in the top of the ninth and striking out two. It was his first career save.
