Astros 14, Twins 5
W: Downs (1-0)
L: Deduno (2-4)
Submitted by Reuben
You wouldn’t know it by looking at the final score, but this game was rather tense for a while there. In fact, around the 5th inning it was starting to smell like one of those games that they would blow late, giving them cause to regret the chances they had earlier on to break it open.
Collin McHugh, after a fine start to his day, had mysteriously lost the ability to control his pitches and been removed from the game. Josh Fields arrived on the scene and accidentally poured gasoline, instead of water, on the problem. At that point the Astros 5-0 lead had nearly evaporated, the score was 5-3 and the tying runs were on base with only one out. And then, suddenly, Fields buckled down, got his changeup working, and retired the next two hitters. He cruised around a harmless single in the 6th, striking out the side. And then POW! Like a rare non-telegraphed punch from the Adam West Batman show, Chris Carter woke everyone from their sun-baked stupor in the top of the 7th with an effortless swing that produced a monster opposite-field Grand Slam. I mean, sure, Carter hits home runs, but essentially this one came from out of nowhere – and just like that, it was 9-3. Time to sit back and relax.
Well, almost. Kyle Farnsworth tried to make it interesting, letting the Minnesotans get back within 4 runs. But Springer went deep in the 8th, and in the 9th, Jon Singleton put it absolutely-definitely-for-sure out of reach with his own Grand Slam – this one a rather monstrous shot as well. It was the first time the Astros had hit two Grannies in the same game since Menke and Wynn did it against the Miracle Mets on July 30, 1969.
Of note:
-Darin Downs earned his first win as an Astro (check out that 1.32 ERA, yo)
-the Astros blew past their previous season-high in runs scored (whatever it was, this was more)
-Altuve hit safely for the 28th time in 30 games, and added two more SB’s to his league-leading total.
-Jonathan Villar had his first 3-hit game since…tee-ball, it felt like.
-Grossman reached base 4 times.
-the Twins hit 3 different Astro batters with pitches. I doubt any were intentional.
I couldn’t help but notice the contrast between Singleton’s Grand Slam swing and Carter’s. Everyone knows that George Springer swings the bat as absolutely hard as any human being has ever swung a bat, every single time, but Singleton swings just as hard when he sees a fat pitch. I mean, it’s a long (but quick), sweeping, kinda wild swing, and he almost goes down on a knee – maybe like Reggie Jackson, if Reggie had really long arms. Carter, on the other hand, has this very quiet, almost soft-looking swing – it looks very effortless, but when he connects, the ball just jumps off his bat. A pity he doesn’t connect more often.
Futility Watch: The Astros can currently claim to be better than the Dbacks, Cubs, Phillies, and Rays, and only ½ game worse than the streaky-ass Red Sox, Padres, and Mets. They’re as close to the Yankees as they are to last place, although, granted, the Yankees aren’t exactly the benchmark they used to be.