Fifth victory in a row provides the Good Guys with a sweep of the Royals in Kansas City
WP: Jarred Cosart (4-4)
LP: Danny Duffy (2-5)
contributed by Sphinx Drummond
Chris Carter, that’s Carter with a “C” hit 2 home runs, his 7th and 8th, and George Springer added his 9th homer of the season to power the Astros past the Kansas City Royals in a 9 to 3 victory on Wednesday afternoon. Jarred Cosart didn’t have his best stuff but it didn’t matter, he didn’t need to pitch a shutout, only limit the damage and the poor Royals couldn’t do much damage with their woeful offense which is mired in last for home run production and slugging percentage.
Cosart worked five innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 BB with just one K. He allowed 2 runs to score, but only one was earned. Jerome Williams worked two innings in relief, giving up the third run in the 7th inning. Darin Downs worked a scoreless 8th inning and Kyle Farnsworth finished with a scoreless 9th.
Currently the Astros have the Cubs and Diamondbacks looking up at them in the MLB standings but while the Astros may be on the move up, they are still in last place in the AL, and it’s a long way from the outhouse to the penthouse. However, there are reasons for optimism. Chris Carter has his batting average up to an even .200. The first three batters in the lineup all have OBPs over .361. Wednesday the team walked more than it struck out. The starting pitching has been solid and seems to be gaining a level of consistency. They had a winning record on their road trip!
Thursday the Astros return home to face the Baltimore Orioles in a four game series. Brad Peacock will open the series facing Ubaldo Jimenez in a 7:10 start. I expect to start seeing larger crowds at the ballpark, it’s a by-product of winning. Now if they could work out a television deal, things would start falling back into place.
Attendance – 16220
Game Time – 3:21
Temperature – 88