April 9, 2016
Astros 6, Brewers 4
W – Fister (1-0)
L – Peralta (0-2)
S – Gregerson (2)
The pitching wasn’t terrible! We’ll take it. Colby Rasmus and Tyler White combined for three dingers and drove in all of the Astros’ runs en route to a 6-4 victory.
The Astros got off the schneid early, loading the bases with no one out in the top of the 1st. Back to back sac flies from Colby Rasmus and Tyler White gave the good guys an early 2-0 lead. In the 3rd Rasmus cranked a homer into the bullpen in left-center to gain a 3-0 lead. Rasmus and White went back-to-back again in the 5th, this time of the leaving-the-yard variety. Colby’s massive blast went about 10 rows deep into the second deck in right-center and White’s bomb was a no-doubter to just left of straightaway center field. Brewers starter Wily Peralta got the “credit” for all six runs, earning his second loss of the young season.
Doug Fister didn’t look too bad in his first Astro outing, not allowing a hit until the third inning and being able to limit the damage where necessary. The Brewers manufactured a run on him in the 5th and then he did give up a solo shot to Scooter Gennett, his second of the series. Hinch pulled Fister after five innings; he pitched just well enough and just long enough to be the first starter not named Keuchel to earn a W. Pat Neshek allowed a solo shot to Kirk Niyuoewlkjturhnfaslk in the 6th, and Will Harris, Ken Giles, and Luke Gregerson each tossed a scoreless inning to close out the game. Gregerson did allow a 2-out single to Yadier Rivera and Jonathan Villar subsequently worked a pretty decent walk by laying off of Gregerson’s sliders, but Gregerson notched the save nevertheless.
One thing that might get lost in the box score is Carlos Gomez’s baserunning in the top of the 8th. Just reading the play-by-play might look like this:
Carlos Gomez singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Yadiel Rivera. Carlos Gomez advances to 3rd, on a throwing error by third baseman Yadiel Rivera. Carlos Gomez out at 3rd, first baseman Chris Carter to shortstop Jonathan Villar.
This doesn’t quite tell the whole story, and one might be inclined to blame Gomez based on his recent blunder getting caught between second and third. In this instance, Rivera’s throw went past first base and it took surprisingly long for anyone to get close to it. As Gomez approached second his eyes were locked on third base coach Gary Pettis, who (as replays would later show) was waving Gomez to third. In actuality, it took a perfectly placed throw from Carter(!) to make Gomez a sitting duck as he slid into third. If the throw was long or wide in either direction GoGo probably makes it in fairly easily. Hard to blame either Gomez or Pettis, and instead we’ll just credit Carter for throwing a hell of a strike from 40 yards away.
White’s 1×2 game dropped him to just .667 on the season, and suddenly he’s tied with Correa for the lead in homers.