Wallace Fireworks Not Enough on the Fourth of July

Rays 7 Astros 5

contributed by Mr. Happy

If you’d have told me that Jordan Lyles pitched into the seventh inning and that Brett Wallace went yard twice, I’d have put a W on the board without even flinching or bothering to look at the scoreboard. However, I would have been dead wrong. I have to hand it to the Astros for battling back. from being down 5-2 late to tieing it at 5 on Brett Wallace’s second home run of the game, a three run shot that bookended his earlier oppo solo shot. Wallace, who flawlessly manned the hot corner today, went 3-5 and drove home four runs to raise his BA to .173. Since his return from OkC, Wallace is hitting .296 with three dongs and nine RBI’s in nine games.

Lyles had enough command to stay into the seventh inning, striking out three and issuing three free passes, throwing 98 pitches, 57 for strikes, which is not a very good ratio. Ironically, it was a wild pitch, another one that in my opinion Castro should have blocked and kept in front of him, that allowed the tying run to score, chasing Lyles in favor of Travis Blackley, who retired the lone hitter he faced.

Unfortunately, Jose Cisnero didn’t bring his A game to the bump today, allowing the Rays to score three runs to take a 5-2 lead. However, in Cisnero’s defense, it was Ronnie Cedeno’s poor decision on failing to throw the ball to 1B and lack of adequate defense that allowed a run to score and extend the inning in the first place. Nevertheless, the Astros roared back and tied the game on Wallace’s third home run, which he actually pulled for once.

The game went to extras, a free baseball bonus on our nation’s birthday. In the eleventh inning, everything went to shit for the Astros, and again, Jason Castro’s defense (or, better said, lack of it) was the culprit, allowing one run to score in little league fashion from third base, on a wild pitch that Castro exhibited poor blocking technique, failing to keep the ball out in front of him.

All in all, the pitching staff’s numbers today were worse than they should have been, again because of some poor defense in failing to make plays that big league players usually make. However, the six free passes were a bit too much. The hitters struck out 11 times, which has been par for the course this season. However, the hitters drew eight walks, doing a pretty good job of stretching out some long at-bats, which hasn’t been the case very often this season.

The GameZone was a bit sparse today, as most of you were probably celebrating the holiday. However, during the game, the GameZone is the place to be.