May 29, 2016
Astros 8, Angels 6 (13 innings)
W – Feliz (3-1)
L – Morin (1-1)
S – Gregerson (12)
Lots of scoring – and innings – in this one, and you’re welcome to go check out the highlights and official recap if you want a blow-by-blow of the entire game. In this recap I’m just going to hit on a few things, some of which aren’t really reflected in the box score.
- Astro hitters were getting solid contact all day but kept hitting it directly at defenders, or hitting it within vertical range of leaping infielders.
- Four GIDPs, one with the bases loaded and no outs (hey, at least it scored a run?).
- Ken Giles has some of the worst luck on the team. It’s easy to see his two-run 7th inning blown save in the box score and think, “Oh great, not again”, but it wasn’t quite that bad. With a 4-2 lead, CJ Cron on second, and one out, Giles bounced a breaking ball to the plate against Mike Trout but Gattis the Catcher lost it at his feet, allowing Cron to advance to third. Giles was also getting squeezed big time by home plate ump Pat Hoberg; no fewer than two strikes to Trout were called balls, and after working the count full Trout ended up taking a free base. Pujols then hit a weak bloop over Altuve to score Cron and move Trout to third. On the next pitch Trout scored on a Johnny Giovatella bunt up the first base line.
- Correa had the day off but pinch-hit for Tony Kemp in the top of the 13th and hit a three-run bomb to left. At first it looked like Rafael Ortega was going to catch it just in front of the warning track, but Ortega kept tracking it backward and leapt at the fence; the ball cleared his glove by 2-3 feet.
- Hinch used every reliever except Devenski.
- With two outs in the bottom of the 13th, Pujols doubled down the left field line, but Marwin (who had moved to left when Correa came into the game) got the ball back in on a hell of a throw and very nearly had Pujols dead to rights at second base. It looked like the ball may have slightly beaten Pujols but Altuve was a bit late on the tag. The Angels added another run after that, but it really would’ve been nice to end the game by pegging him trying to extend a single.