Rays 4 Astros 3
WP Hernandez (5-10)
LP Harrell (5-10)
S Rodney (22)
contributed by Mr. Happy
Today, the Astros jumped on Roberto Hernandez in the first frame, plating all three runs, two of which scored on Wallace’s fourth long ball. However, Hernandez bowed his neck and shut the Astros down for the other five innings that he was out there before turning the game over to the Rays’ shutdown bully. Keuchel was good the first time through the order, spotting the ball well and inducing many ground ball outs. However, in the fifth frame, he wasn’t as fine, surrendering three runs on four hits, tying the game at 3, two runs scoring on Luke Scott’s eighth home run of the year.
Somewhat surprisingly, Keuchel went back out there in the sixth to face the heart of the Rays’ order. However, after getting Zobrist to ground out, Porter brought the hook out and into the game came Harrell. After getting Longoria to ground out 5-3, Myers singled sharply to LF. Myers then got a gift bag when Castro couldn’t get the ball out of his mitt to throw down to 2B on the attempted steal by Myers, bringing Luke Scott to the dish. Like clockwork, Scott singles to RF, scoring Myers with the go-ahead run. In the seventh frame, Harrell then couldn’t find the plate and walked two before getting out of the inning. Harrell came out going into the eighth, giving way to Josh Fields, who retired the two hitters that he faced before Porter brought on Travis Blackley, who retired the rat-tailed Luke Scott. Rodney closed out the game by striking out Wallace.
Today’s game was as unsatisfying as last night’s game was satisfying. The Astros’ inability to hit Hernandez after the first inning was frustrating, as we were only able to scratch out two more hits over five frames. The Rays’ bully was perfect in its three frames. The strike zone was as inconsistent today as it was consistent last night. Lots of hitters and pitchers did double takes and had words for HPU Eric Cooper, but no one got run.
In tomorrow’s rubber game, Erik Bedard (3-5 4.67) toes the slab against Chris Archer (3-3 3.59). Come visit us in the GameZone.