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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
DETROIT (AP) -- Compared to cozy Enron Field, spacious Comerica
Park seemed like the Grand Canyon to Houston right-hander Chris
Holt.
Holt won for the first time since June 3 and Craig Biggio
singled, doubled and tripled as the Astros defeated the Detroit
Tigers 9-4 Friday night.
Holt (4-10) allowed four runs on nine hits in 7 2/3 innings with
five strikeouts and two walks.
"I like this ballpark. It's very different from Enron," Holt
said. "This is more like the Astrodome. You can groove some balls
when you're behind in the count and not expect them to go out of
the park.
"Today I used mostly curveballs and fastballs. I used very few
sliders or changeups."
Holt has a 1.84 ERA in five appearances against American League teams the
last two years. He gave up two runs in the first inning, but
settled down to work six scoreless innings before the Tigers chased
him with two in the eighth.
"He actually has the best combination of pitches of any starter
on our club," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "He has the best
command of all four of his pitches, the fastball, slider, curveball
and change. He's really been a hard-luck pitcher most of his
career. We just don't seem to score runs for him."
Lance Berkman, Mitch Meluskey and Richard Hidalgo homered for
the Astros, who have won three of five, but just seven of their
last 25.
Biggio was 3-for-5, scored once and drove in a run. Needing a
homer for the cycle in the eighth, he grounded out sharply to
third.
"Well, I was just trying to hit the ball hard," Biggio said.
"I enjoy hitting in this park. It's built for my type of game, a
contact game. There's a lot of space between the outfielders."
Though batting an uncharacteristic .259, Biggio is 5-for-11 the
last three games and 4-for-8 in the first two games of the series
with Detroit.
"I've been feeling better the last three weeks at the plate. My
confidence is coming back and I'm feeling more comfortable every
at-bat," Biggio said. "To say the very least, this has been a
very frustrating year for me, and it's been there ever since spring
training."
Hidalgo had three hits, scored three times and had two RBI.
Bobby Higginson had three hits and two RBI for the Tigers.
Hideo Nomo (3-8) gave up nine hits, including two homers, and
six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
"To me, Houston knows his pitches; he must be tipping his
pitches," Tigers manager Phil Garner said. "They've had some
pretty good numbers off him in the past."
Nomo has won just one of his last six decisions, and his ERA
rose to 5.00.
"I was feeling good, but my location was not good," Nomo said
through an interpreter. "My pitches were a little high.
"They picked up some (pitches), but location is still the most
important thing. My location was not very great."
Rich Becker doubled and scored on Higginson's double before Dean
Palmer's run-scoring single gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the first.
Bill Spiers hit a two-out double and scored on Biggio's single
in the third.
The Astros jumped ahead with a four-run fourth as Berkman led
off with his 13th home run, Hidalgo hit a run-scoring single, and Meluskey
added a two-run shot, his 10th homer of the year.
Biggio led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Moises
Alou's sacrifice fly. Two more runs scored on third baseman
Palmer's throwing error on Meluskey's infield single, putting
Houston up 8-2.
Hidalgo hit a solo homer, his 24th, off Matt Anderson in the
seventh.
The Tigers chased Holt with a two-run eighth as Becker hit a
sacrifice fly and Higginson an RBI single.
Game notes
Nomo has allowed 22 homers, tied for second-most in the AL
behind Kansas City's Jeff Suppan's 24. ... Meluskey's 10th home run
made him just the eighth Astros rookie with double-digit homers and
first since Jeff Bagwell hit 15 and Luis Gonzalez 13 in 1991. ...
The Tigers will retire former outfielder Willie Horton's uniform number 23
and unveil a statue of him prior to the game Saturday against the
Astros. The statue, located beyond the left-center field wall,
joins those of Tigers Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Hank Greenberg,
Charlie Gehringer, Ty Cobb and Hal Newhouser that were already in
place when Comerica Park opened in April. ... Bagwell scored his
1,000th career run in the fifth. Bagwell and Biggio are the only
players to score 1,000 runs for the Astros.
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