In a quiet corner of the visitors’ clubhouse at Turner Field, Astros owner Drayton McLane busily got to work Wednesday evening after his team won Game 1 of its division series.
Way back in spring training, he vowed to clean his players’ spikes after each game if they reached the postseason. The gesture could not have been more appropriate after McLane’s Astros received contributions from top to bottom while cleaning up 10-5 over the Atlanta Braves to start the best-of-five series.
From Craig Biggio leading off and Morgan Ensberg getting five RBIs in the cleanup spot all the way down to left-hander Andy Pettitte, the Astros did the little things and the big ones too.
They sacrificed runners, drove in runs with two outs and took walks when Atlanta right-hander Tim Hudson missed the strike zone.
“To come in here in this building, it’s hard to get any wins in here,” Biggio said after going 2-for-3 with a double, three runs and one RBI. “We played well. We did a lot things right today, played a little small ball.
Weather permitting, the Astros will try to take a 2-0 series lead Thursday with Roger Clemens taking the mound against John Smoltz.
Much of the talk coming into the series was about the Astros’ vaunted big three in the starting rotation: Pettitte, Clemens and Roy Oswalt.
Little positive had been said about the Astros’ maligned offense, but Biggio, Ensberg and Co. executed well as the Braves pitched around slugger Lance Berkman all afternoon.
Pitching around Berkman pays off if the rest of the offense can’t contribute. On this day, however, McLane was one of the few Astros who didn’t jump on Hudson.
“Obviously, the performance wasn’t too good,” Hudson said after giving up seven hits and five runs with five walks and three strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.
“Just took me a while to make the adjustments (in the) first few innings.”
Pettitte countered with seven strong innings, holding the Braves to three runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts to tie Smoltz for first on the all-time postseason victory list with 14.
“When you feel like you’re going to put some runs on the board, it helps,” said Pettitte, who sat out last year’s postseason because of elbow surgery.
Although the Astros pulled away with a five-run rally in the eighth inning against three relievers, they took control against Hudson.
Biggio led off the game with a single up the middle. Willy Taveras moved him to second with the first of the Astros’ four sacrifice bunts, which set a division series record.
After Berkman drew a four-pitch walk, Ensberg gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a single to center. Jason Lane’s double-play grounder to third let Hudson escape further damage.
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Chipper Jones tied the score 1-1 with a two-out home run over the right-field wall in the bottom of the first. Biggio started the Astros’ two-run rally in the third with a one-out double to center. Taveras followed with a walk, and Berkman loaded the bases with his second consecutive four-pitch walk. Ensberg delivered a two-run single through the left side.
Brad Ausmus started the Astros going again in the fourth with a leadoff double over the head of center fielder Andruw Jones. Pettitte sacrificed him to third, and Biggio made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly to center.
Andruw Jones cut the Astros’ lead to 4-3 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.