April 10, 2016
Brewers 3, Astros 2
W – Nelson (1-1)
L – Keuchel (1-1)
S – Jeffress (3)
Not a whole lot of good to come out of this one. The Astros managed only three hits – although two of them solo home runs – against Brewers pitching and Dallas Keuchel looked less than sharp. The Brewers took the game 3-2 and the series as the Astros’ opening road trip ends with a whimper. Here’s hoping some games at home can get their heads right.
Home runs from Jose Altuve in the 1st and Preston Tucker in the 5th, and a single by George Springer also in the 1st, accounted for their only real offensive production of the day. They scattered some walks but had a lot of difficulty mounting a consistent offensive threat. Altuve, Springer, and Carlos Correa also gave away some outs on the basepaths.
Unfortunately, with Keuchel having a rough day on the mound the bats picked a poor time to slump. Keuchel gave up six hits and also walked six in just 5.2 innings. Despite the early Astros lead the Brewers got it right back in the bottom of the 1st on an Aaron Hill 2-run single. Domingo Santana added an RBI double in the 4th inning.
The closest the Astros came to tying the game was with one out in the 8th. Luis Valbuena walked, then advanced to third when Altuve reached on a throwing error and advanced to second. Jake Marisnick came in to pinch run for Valbuena, and Springer then drove a fly ball to center field. Marisnick held at third when, in hindsight, he probably could’ve tagged and scored on the throw. However, I can understand not wanting to risk being the third out when Correa is coming up to bat. (Correa hit a routine grounder to end the inning.)