--RHP Brian Moehler, who earned the No. 3 spot in the rotation after a strong spring, struggled mightily in his first start of the season.

"The results weren't there," Moehler said after giving up seven runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout over 1 2/3 innings an the 11-6 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday. "We had to scramble the rest of the game. I put us in the hole from the get-go. We had to play catch-up and the bullpen suffered. I stunk. That's the bottom line."

--The Astros threatened to slug their way back into the contest with home runs from Jeff Keppinger, Lance Berkman, Ivan Rodriguez, Kaz Matsui and Hunter Pence. But the Cubs had more than enough offense to win the season-opening series 2-1.

--OF Hunter Pence, with his leadoff shot off David Patton in the sixth, gave the Astros five home runs in a game for the first time since May 2, 2008. On that day, Miguel Tejada, Berkman, Carlos Lee and Pence, who had two, combined to hit five against the Brewers.

"If we had started in the third inning, we'd win the game, right?" Astros manager Cecil Cooper joked. "We swung the bats a lot better tonight. I was very happy with that. Hopefully we can kind of build on that and go from there."

--C Pudge Rodriguez, who had a team-high five strikeouts before he collected his first hit of the season in his final at-bat Tuesday night, was moved from the second spot in the order to seventh Wednesday.

"I didn't want to do it with Pudge having maybe two nights where he didn't get any base hits and he was struggling," manager Cecil Cooper said of his lineup change. "I think the first couple of nights, or at least the first six or seven at-bats, he was pretty revved up trying to show the fans some things, and I think he got kind out of himself a little bit.

"I was very happy to see him have two really good at-bats (Tuesday) late in the game."

--3B Jeff Keppinger hit second a day after delivering a walk-off single in his first at-bat as an Astro.

"I talked to (Pudge Rodriguez on) Tuesday night after the game about moving Keppinger into the No. 2 hole simply today because Keppinger, in my estimation, is a real two-hole hitter," manager Cecil Cooper said. "This is where he's hit most of the time in the big-league level. He's a guy that puts the bat on the ball. I just thought it would be a good spot to put him in. Pudge understands that, and he's OK with that. That's where we're going to go today."

--Cecil Cooper vowed to speak with Michael Bourn about the young center fielder's decision to swing away in the ninth inning with two men on and nobody out Tuesday night.

With the Cubs executing the wheel play on that play, Bourn opted against the sacrifice bunt attempt Cooper had ordered. He swung and hit the ball to the pitcher for a fielder's choice grounder on which Jeff Keppinger was erased at third.

Cooper gives the pitchers the option to swing away if they think they cannot drop a sacrifice bunt in similar situations, but he'd rather a guy like Bourn sacrifice.

"We do that a lot with pitchers. They practice it," Cooper said. "It's something that you'd like to see out of your pitchers if that situation comes up, (but for) position players (it) is a little bit different. I'm sure Michael got caught a little bit by surprise.

"But if he had hit it a little bit better or a little bit more to the right of the pitcher we would have been in a bases-loaded situation. But it worked out OK. We came out of it all right. We'll just move on from there, but we will talk about it."

Bourn defended his instincts.

"The first baseman and the third baseman are coming in," he said. "Where am I going to bunt it at? That's what went through my head, I can't bunt it. If it was five feet to the left, I'm a hero, so I'm a risk-taker. That's how I am. I'll take the risk every time."

MEDICAL WATCH:

RHP Brandon Backe (strained left side muscle) went on the 15-day disabled list March 27. He threw off a mound April 8.

INF Aaron Boone (open-heart surgery on March 26) went on the 15-day disabled list March 27. He was uncertain whether he'd resume his career.

ROTATION:

1. RHP Roy Oswalt

2. LHP Wandy Rodriguez

3. RHP Brian Moehler

4. LHP Mike Hampton

5. RHP Russ Ortiz

BULLPEN:

RHP Jose Valverde (closer)

RHP LaTroy Hawkins

RHP Doug Brocail

LHP Wesley Wright

LHP Tim Byrdak

RHP Chris Sampson

RHP Geoff Geary

LINEUP:

1. 2B Kaz Matsui

2. CF Michael Bourn

3. 1B Lance Berkman

4. LF Carlos Lee

5. SS Miguel Tejada

6. RF Hunter Pence

7. C Ivan Rodriguez

8. 3B Geoff Blum

RESERVES:

C Humberto Quintero

INF Jeff Keppinger

INF Jason Smith

OF/1B Darin Erstad

OF Jason Michaels