Orioles 9, Astros 4
W: Chen (6-2)
L: Feldman (3-3)
Submitted by Reuben
It’s pretty hard to spin a 9-run outing as anything but a disaster and a colossal failure for a pitcher, but Scott Feldman actually didn’t pitch all that poorly on Sunday afternoon. In the 2nd inning, Schoop reached on a ball that skipped under the glove of Matt Dominguez as he tried to backhand it. Dominguez looked disgusted with himself and Brownie and Ashby wondered if it would be ruled an error. The next batter, .159-hitter David Lough, turned on a 2-2 high-and-in fastball that probably wasn’t even in the strike zone, sending it into the right field seats.
In the 3rd, Feldman was a victim of small ball, as a double, followed by a steal of 3rd and a sac fly, gave the crabcake-eaters a 3-0 advantage. A clutch 2-out Carter single in the 4th ensured that Springer’s leadoff double did not go for naught, but otherwise the Astro bats could not solve O’s southpaw Wei-Yin Chen, who looked very sharp for 5 1/3 innings before being surprisingly removed at 97 pitches – right after striking out his 6th batter. He looked pissed.
The score remained 3-1 until the 6th, when it all hit the fan in frustrating fashion. A dribbler by Davis that went right through where the 3B normally plays. Another worm-burner by Hardy that barely eluded Villar. A wimpy floater off the end of Schoop’s bat that landed in front of Fowler to load the bases. An absurdly high chopper off the bat of Lough that bounced way over the head of Dominguez scored run #4. Next came the first well-hit ball of the inning, a sac fly that required a nice running grab from Springer. Finally, the death blow came: a Grand Slam from the previously-struggling Manny Machado, after the Astros intentionally walked Markakis to set up the double play.
But wait, there were some genuine positives! Altuve started a new hitting streak. Springer had 2 hits, including a nice opposite-field double. Dominguez knocked a 2-run dinger. And Fields, Clemens, and Downs combined to toss 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Downs, despite his apparent status as mop-up man, now has a 1.93 ERA, and Clemens, who’s more like the 3rd-string mop-up man, has a very respectable 3.66. Give the kid props, he’s gone down and done very well at OKC amidst all his yo-yoing between there and Houston, only allowing 1 ER and 9 hits in his 18 AAA innings.
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Futility Watch: 7-game Win streaks must be good for winning percentages, because the Astros now find themselves not only not dead last, but all the way up in 27th place!!! They’re a half-game better than the mighty Tampa Bay Rays!!! Ok, so they’re only 2 games ahead of the last-place Cubs. They still probably earned a pizza-and-ice cream party from the front office.