Astros 8, Indians 1
WP: Keuchel (1-0, 1.29)
LP: Gomez (4-7, 5.18)
by Mr. Happy
All eyes were on young Dallas Keuchel, who was making his home debut, and he would not disappoint. Today’s game started out much like last night’s game, with the Astros still mired in their hitting doldrums. Asdrubal Cabrera took Keuchel deep for a solo shot to give the Tribe what would be their only lead and only run on the afternoon.
After retiring the first 12 Astros, Jeanmar Gomez, no doubt a mixed breed mixed up Frenchman with that name, dug a hole from which he could not rescue himself, courtesy of the perfecto gris gris that the denizens in the Game Zone had put on him after the end of the fourth inning. The Astros teed off on Gomez in the fifth frame, with back-to-back doubles from Bogusevic (who was in the cleanup spot today) and CJ and back-to-back jacks from JD and Schreefer (who was in the eight) to give the home nine a 4-1 lead that ultimately proved to be more runs that Keuchel would need.
Inexplicably, agent Manny Acta had a brain fart and let Gomez (who was clearly, at least to me, done) hit for himself in the top of the sixth and come back out to attempt to pitch in the bottom half of that frame and the Astros made him pay. After a leadoff walk to Lowrie, El Caballo cranked what would prove to be his first of two doubles to plate Lowrie to increase the lead to 5-1. After getting the next two guys, Acta brought on his designated situational lefty, Tony Sipp, who struck out Castro to end the sixth.
Menawhile, Keuchel changed speeds effectively and just kept the Tribe off balance all day, mixing in a very effective Uncle Charlie that he wasn’t bashful about throwing early in a sequence. Keuchel was in command all day, throwing approximately 65% strikes. The opposing broadcasters on STO thought very highly of his poise and pitchability. The Astros brass may encounter some difficulty when they send Keuchel back down to OkC when Norris comes back, especially if Happ stinks it up tomorrow. AstroFan on talk radio will likely have an aneurysm over it, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, would it?
The Astros played add-on against a hapless Jeremy “Acky” (according to our own Ron Brand) Accardo in the bottom of the eighth. Altuve welcomed Mr. Accardo to Houston with a rocket home run (his fifth on the year) in the Crawford Boxes on his first pitch. Jed Lowrie followed that up with a double, and Carlos Lee then doubled home Lowrie to make 7-1. CJ then hit his second double of the game to score Lee to finish the scoring and make 8-1.
In the ninth inning, Keuchel surrendered a leadoff two bagger to Shin Soo Choo, but he would get no further than 3B, as Keuchel surrendered only another harmless single by Kipnis. The ballgame ended with two straight flyballs to Bogusevic, who got another opportunity to showcase his cannon on a strike to home plate after catching a flyball near the line. Fortunately for Choo, he stayed put at 3B. Keuchel on the day scattered six hits en route to the complete game win, the first by an Astro this season, striking out three and only walking one, tossing just 108 pitches on the afternoon, which was a rare 3:05 p.m. saturday afternoon matinee. I say let’s play more of these if this is how our boys can play then.
Our own JA Happ goes for the series win tomorrow against the Indians, whose lefty-heavy lineup has real trouble with left-handed pitchers, hitting around .220. We’ll see. The magic number today was nine: nine innings for Keuchel and nine (count ‘em nine) extra base hits. Additionally, the Astros were an uncharacteristically high 4-11 w/RISP.