Do Call It a Comeback

Astros 7, Angels 6

Contributed by Reuben

Marwin said knock you out! The Astros came at the Angels with a versatile attack Tuesday, employing power, speed, and error-inducing juju on the way to their first comeback win of the season. Jordan Lyles got his first W, settling in after allowing a 2-out, 3-run homer in the 1st to the en fuego Mark Trumbo that barely stayed fair. A 1st-inning deficit like 3-0 has become an all too familiar sight this year. Credit Lyles and the Astro hitters for not letting it bring them down.

New #3 hitter Jose Altuve immediately began chipping away at the lead, launching a full-count solo HR to left off of CJ Wilson with 2 outs in the 1st. After a quiet 2nd, Brandon Barnes led off the Astro 3rd with a sharp 1st-pitch single. Robbie Grossman laid down a beautiful sac bunt and beat it out when the catcher, Conger, picked up the ball bare-hand but couldn’t get a grip on it. He was given an error; I could see it going as a hit, though, as it was not a sure out even if he fielded it cleanly. Conger got another error on the next play, as he threw down to 2nd after Paredes missed a bunt attempt; Barnes was way off the bag and just took off for 3rd, the throw bounced, and the SS Aybar couldn’t field it in time to prevent him from moving up. Paredes would then double on a fly ball over the head of former Astro JB Shuck, scoring Barnes, and Altuve drove in Grossman with an infield single.

At this point the score was tied and the Astros had runners on the corners with nobody out. Then JD Martinez, fresh off the DL, struck out swinging at a neck-high fastball. Then Carlos Corporan struck out, and once again an all-too familiar feeling was coming on, as it seemed like they would squander a golden opportunity to take the lead. But the die landed on “6” this time (1-5 all being strikeout) and Chris Carter walloped one of his mighty home runs, this one a bullet line drive into the Crawford Boxes, and suddenly the Astros had come from down 3-0 all the way to a 6-3 lead.

In the meantime, Lyles was pitching very well. He was getting ground-outs and strikeouts left and right, throwing 93, 94 and mixing in his breaking balls nicely. In the 5th he ran into a little trouble that wasn’t really his fault. Jimmy Paredes Pence’d a fly ball into a double, and one batter later, Mike Trout was awarded first base after the umpire declared that Lyles’ inside pitch had hit him – much to the surprise of Trout, who had stepped away like he was casually gathering himself for the next pitch. That brought Albert Pujols to the plate representing the tying run. Undaunted, Lyles got him to fly out to the adventuresome Paredes, and then got Trumbo to ground into a 6-4.

The rest of the game almost felt like it would breeze by, but a solo homer off Keuchel in the 6th and a 2-run homer off Blackley in the 8th would bring the Angels to 6 runs. Luckily, the Astros had scraped together an insurance run in the 7th, thanks to Grossman, who singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, and scored on the errant throw by Conger. Yes, poor Hank Conger was charged with 3 errors in the game. That probably doesn’t happen very often. This one was a bit of a fluke, as either his hand or the ball grazed the bat of the batter, JD Martinez, as he threw down to 3rd.

By the way, Hector Ambriz pitched very well in his relief outing. He entered in the 7th, retired Trout, Pujols, Hamilton, and Trumbo, 3 of those by strikeout. He had them completely fooled by his slider, and he was spotting his fastball well at around 93-94. With two outs in the 8th, Howie Kendrick hit a grounder up the middle that Cedeno fielded, but then couldn’t get a grip on it to make a throw. It was scored a hit, which is a shame, because the next batter homered off Blackley, hanging Ambriz with an undeserved earned run.

Finally, Jose Veras, deliverer of a post-game closed-door speech after the loss on Sunday, came on to save the game in the 9th, and thankfully, he did it with a minimum of drama. Shuck grounded out, Aybar, hackin’ away, popped out, and Trout struck out on a beautiful 3-2 slider, eliciting a passionate double fist-pump from Corporan that almost brought tears to my eyes. Yay, winning!