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Astros rock Olympic hero Sheets; Brewers 0-4 | |||||||||||||
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GAME LOG
HOUSTON (AP) – So much for the Olympic hero stuff. In his major league debut, Ben Sheets was just another losing pitcher.
"Between the adrenaline and trying to pitch, I lost it somewhere," said Sheets, who left 20-30 tickets for family friends. "I've got to try to stay relaxed and not try to do too much. I finished on a strong note, that was a positive." Richard Hidalgo hit a two-run homer and Chris Truby got his third homer in as many games for Houston, which swept the season-opening three-game series and is 3-0 for the first time in 13 years. "For his first big league start, he was very aggressive," Truby said. "At certain points, he might have lost a little bit of his command, but he came back with his fastball. When that works, he can get away with a lot." Milwaukee headed home for Friday's opening of Miller Park with an 0-4 record, the worst in the major leagues. Sheets (0-1), the 10th player picked in the 1999 amateur draft, pitched three games for the United States in the 2000 Olympics, including a three-hit shutout of Cuba in the gold medal game. But the Astros had more firepower than the Cubans. While the 21-year-old right-hander struck out five, he didn't help himself with five walks. "You don't want to give up five runs in six innings and a two-run home run to the eight hitter with the pitcher coming up next," Brewers manager Davey Lopes said. "I'm trying to find something good, but no matter how you cut it, five runs in six innings is not good. "He's got to improve and, hopefully, he will learn and get better." Sheets, counted on as a key to the Brewers' future, gave up an infield hit to Craig Biggio leading off the bottom of the first. After retiring his next five batters, Sheets walked Brad Ausmus with two outs in the second. Truby followed with a two-run homer for a 2-1 lead. Sheets got Biggio in a groundout to start the third but then hit Jose Vizcaino with a pitch and walked Jeff Bagwell. Lance Berkman followed with an RBI single, Richard Hidalgo walked and Daryle Ward hit a two-run double for a 5-1 lead."He was fine at first but then in the third inning, he got away from what he was doing," Casanova said. "It was tough for him to get strikes early in the count. When he fell behind the hitters, he had to come right at them. "But for his first start, he threw well overall, except in the third inning." Wade Miller (1-0) struck out a career-high 11, allowing two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings. He left because of cramps in his right forearm. Milwaukee, which had gone ahead in the second on Raul Casanova's RBI single, got another run in the seventh on Jeromy Burnitz's homer. Hidalgo homered off newly acquired Mark Leiter in a three-run seventh. Lopes and left fielder Geoff Jenkins were ejected in the sixth following an argument with plate umpire Mike DiMuro. "I didn't particularly care for the calls," Lopes said. "Obviously he did. I don't mind a bad call, but the call with two strikes, I didn't think that it was even close. Let's leave it at that." Game notesHouston had started the season 3-0 only five times in its 40-year history: 1962, 1968, 1979, 1987 and 1988. ... Jeff D'Amico, who started the Brewers' final game in County Stadium, will be start the first game at Miller Park on Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds.  Send this story to a friend
| RECAPS Toronto 11 Tampa Bay 0
Houston 8
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