The Houston Astros broke upon a scoreless game with a six-run 7th inning, as Lance Berkman’s 2-out grand slam keyed their 8-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday evening from Minute Maid Park.

Houston tried to score in the 2nd after Carlos Lee hit a lead-off single to center against Chicago starter Ted Lilly.

3 batters later, Chris Johnson singled to put runners on 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Humberto Quintero.

Quintero struck out looking to end the inning.

The Cubs then had a chance to score in the 4th after Tyler Colvin hit a lead-off double against Astros starter Brett Myers.

Starlin Castro grounded out to Angel Sanchez at shortstop, as Colvin advanced to 3rd base on the play.

Derrek Lee then hit a soft liner to Sanchez, which left it up to Aramis Ramirez.

Ramirez grounded out to Jeff Keppinger at 2nd base to end the inning.

Chicago had yet another chance to score in the top of the 5th after Marlon Byrd drew a lead-off walk from Myers.

2 batters later, Ryan Theriot grounded out to Myers, as it advanced Byrd to 2nd base with 2 outs for Koyie Hill.

Hill struck out swinging to end the scoring chance.

The Astros had a shot to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th, as Chris Johnson hit a lead-off single against Lilly.

Humberto Quintero then singled to right center, which put runners on 1st & 3rd with nobody out for Brett Myers.

Myers popped out to Ryan Theriot at 2nd base, which brought up Michael Bourn.

After Bourn struck out swinging, Angel Sanchez grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Houston had yet another chance to go ahead in the 6th after Jeff Keppinger & Lance Berkman drew back-to-back 2-out walks off Lilly.

Andrew Cashner then entered the game to replace Lilly & struck out Chris Johnson swinging to end the scoring threat.

The Astros then exploded for a huge 7th inning, which began after Humberto Quintero was hit by a lead-off pitch from Cashner.

Jason Bourgeois pinch-ran for Quintero & stole 2nd base during Brett Myers’ at-bat, who laid down a sac bunt to move Bourgeois to 3rd.

Michael Bourn was then intentionally walked to put runners on the corners for Angel Sanchez, who reached on a fielder’s score to score Bourgeois from 3rd base & give Houston a 1-0 lead.

Hunter Pence followed that with an RBI single to right, as it scored Bourn from 2nd base to make it a 2-0 game. Sanchez tried to go from 1st & 3rd on the play, but was tagged out by Aramis Ramirez.

Carlos Lee then drew a walk, while Jeff Keppinger got hit by a pitch to load the bases up for Lance Berkman.

Berkman made Cashner pay for his wildness, as he belted a grand slam (13th of season) just over the wall in right-center to give Houston a 6-0 lead.

The Cubs scored their lone run of the game on Tyler Colvin’s 9th inning lead-off solo homer (16th of season) against Myers.

Brett Myers (8-6) gets the win for Houston after pitching a complete game in which he allowed just 1 run on 4 hits while walking one & striking out a season-high 12 batters.

Andrew Cashner (1-4) takes the loss for Chicago after being pounded for 6 runs on 2 hits in just 1 1/3 innings of work.

The Cubs will look to record their first series win over the Astros this season on Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 PM cst, as Randy Wells (5-7, 4.07) will pitch against Bud Norris (2-7, 6.08).

Wells has not allowed an earned run in 12 consecutive innings, but did lose to Houston on June 6th after allowing 6 runs on 9 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work during the Cubs’ 6-3 loss.

Norris is looking to win his first game since May 13th on Wednesday & has not reached the 6th inning in a home start all season.

Signing off for now,

Matt T for Cubshub.com