Starlin Castro Shines, Cubs Hold on to Defeat Houston 5-4

COMMENTARY | The Chicago Cubs rebounded from a couple of tough games against the Milwaukee Brewers by beating the Houston Astros 5-4 in the first game of a three-game series, evening their road record to 2-2 and, further, bringing their overall record back to .500 at 5-5. The Cubs assaulted the Astros early and then hung on in the late innings to win.

As reference, I am using an article at the Chicago Cubs website by Richard Dean titled "Castro leads charge as Cubs edge Astros."

Starlin Castro is an amazing player. He makes unbelievable defensive plays and is aggressive and effective at the plate as well. What makes it all so special is that he is 21. It is unreal.

If we just look at Castro's at-bats, we see that he got three hits in his first three trips to the plate before striking out twice. In his first strikeout, he made the pitcher throw 13 pitches before retiring him. Oh, by the way, Castro is batting .364.

Ryan Dempster, the number one starter in the rotation, got his first win of the season by allowing only one run in the first six innings before being chased in the seventh when Houston scored three runs, coming within one run of the Cubs, who scored no more runs after the fourth inning.

Once the Cubs were able to limp to the final inning, Carlos Marmol completed the game.

It was important to the Cubs that Dempster give them a good game this evening, which he did. They needed to preserve the bullpen as much as possible because James Russell will be starting Tuesday. Russell is coming out of the bullpen because of the injuries to Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. He is not expected to go more than two or three innings-four at the most. That will require heavy bullpen support.

While it was good that the Cubs won the game, it is a little disconcerting that they nearly lost the lead -- again. In the final game of the series with Milwaukee yesterday, the Cubs lost after being ahead three times.

That is the sign of a young team, and, of course, they are missing two starting pitchers.

Wells and Cashner could be back in May.

Reference:

Chicago Cubs' Website, Richard Dean, "Castro leads charge as Cubs edge Astros"

Chicago Cubs' Website, "Starlin Castro Stats"