Houston Astros News

A night after getting shut out, the Houston Astros got their offense going. Hunter Pence homered and drove in three runs to help the Astros beat the Washington Nationals 6-4 on Saturday night. “Nothing was running for us yesterday, and today, it seemed to happen,” said Pence. “It’s baseball. The ball seemed to bounce in different ways.

The Astros agreed to terms Saturday with first-round draft pick Jason Castro, the catcher who helped Stanford reach the recent College World Series. The 20-year-old batted .376 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs in 67 games last season. Before his junior season, he played in the Cape Cod Summer League in 2007 and batted .341 with 24 RBIs to earn a spot in the league’s All-Star game.

The Houston Astros on Saturday agreed to terms with catcher Jason Castro, their first-round pick in this year’s draft.

Tim Redding was the beneficiary of the Nationals’ biggest shutout win since the franchise moved to Washington before the 2005 season. He definitely deserved all the support. Redding finally got a victory after nine consecutive no-decisions, Ronnie Belliard homered twice and drove in five runs and the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 10-0 Friday night.

Houston Astros ace righthander Roy Oswalt was forced to leave his start against the Washington Nationals after one inning on Friday with a left hip abductor strain.

The Houston Astros placed pitcher Oscar Villarreal on waivers Thursday after he rejected his assignment to Triple-A Round Rock. Outfielder Reggie Abercrombie accepted his assignment and will report to Round Rock on Friday. Villarreal was 1-3 with a 5.02 ERA in 35 appearances for Houston this season. He was traded to the Astros in the offseason from Atlanta for Josh Anderson.

The Houston Astros on Thursday placed righthander Oscar Villarreal on waivers after he rejected an assignment to Class AAA Round Rock.

Melvin Mora hit a two-run double in the eighth inning to cap yet another improbable rally by the Baltimore Orioles and doom the sinking Houston Astros to their sixth straight defeat, 6-5 Tuesday night. The Orioles trailed 5-3 before rebounding to earn their third comeback victory in four games. It was the major-league leading 16th time this season that Baltimore rallied from a two-run deficit to…

Houston Astros manager Cecil Cooper and the Minnesota Twins’ Ron Gardenhire were fined undisclosed amounts by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for failing to comply with pace of game regulations last weekend. With games seeming to run longer each year, teams were asked last month to help enforce speed-up rules already on the books.

Miguel Tejada wore his trademark wide smile, and his enthusiasm for playing baseball obviously had not waned. Back at Camden Yards for the first time since being traded to the Houston Astros in December, Tejada spoke excitedly Tuesday about seeing his former teammates and fondly looked back on his four years with the Baltimore Orioles.