Vazquez shuts down Astros

Adam LaRoche and Nate McLouth hit home runs to supply all the offense for the Braves, and slumping third baseman Chipper Jones made the defensive play of the game on a barehanded catch-and-throw with the bases loaded in the sixth to help the Braves win a series opener at Minute Maid Park.

But the night belonged to Vazquez (12-9), who had four walks and nine strikeouts and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth inning.

“Javy was just unbelievably good tonight,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said of the right-hander, whose nine strikeouts gave him 208 and his third consecutive 200-strikeout season. “He got out of jams. He walked a couple of guys, and came right back. Splendid job of clutch pitching. ...

“He could have 18 [wins]. He could be in the running for the Cy Young with any luck at all.”

With runners at second and third and one out in the seventh, Vazquez struck out left-handed pinch-hitter Darin Erstad and Michael Bourn to protect the 2-0 lead.

“I was looking for a strikeout there,” said Vazquez, who also contributed two hits of his own, making him 10-for-24 at the plate in his past 13 starts to raise his season average to .207.

The Astros, fresh off a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia that included three consecutive one-run wins, seemed poised to make things excruciating for recently erratic Mike Gonzalez in the eighth.

But after Kazuo Matsui flied out to the warning track and Lance Berkman singled, Carlos Lee hit a hard grounder to Gonzalez, who wheeled and threw to second to start an inning-ending double play.

The Astros scored in the ninth against closer Rafael Soriano, after Miguel Tejada’s leadoff triple.

In the sixth, Vazquez struck out Lance Berkman with runners at second and third and one out. Then after Vazquez walked Carlos Lee — the third walk of the inning — Tejada hit a sharp comebacker to the mound with two out, and the ball caromed off Vazquez’s glove to Jones.

Jones fielded it and threw in the same motion to get Tejada by a half-step.

“Not doing it with the bat, got to do it with the glove,” said Jones, who is 8-for-69 (.116) in his past 21 games and has two extra-base hits in his past 24 games. “I didn’t have much action tonight, but that play saved possibly a big inning. Javy knocked the ball down. He gets a lot of the credit.”

When someone mentioned to Jones what Vazquez had said about continuing to battle and how stranger things have happened in pennant races, Jones concurred.

“We’re seven games out of the wild card,” he said. “How many games were the Phillies behind the Mets a couple of years ago? It can happen.”

In 2007, New York had a seven-game lead over Philadelphia in the National League East standings on Sept. 12. The Mets lost 12 of their last 17 and missed the playoffs.