April 17, 2015

Astros 5, Tigers 4

W – Fiers (1-1)
L – Sanchez (2-1)
S – Gregerson (4)

Box Score

GameZone thread

Houston heads into Monday’s off day on a high note, topping the Tigers 5-4 on Sunday afternoon and notching their first series win of the year.

The top of the batting order is showing serious signs of returning to form following some early struggles.  Altuve belted an opposite field homer to lead off the game, tying him with Tyler White for the team lead in home runs.  George Springer then singled, advanced to second on a Colby Rasmus walk, moved to third on an Evan Gattis fly ball to right field, and scored on a wild pitch by Anibal Sanchez.  In the 3rd Springer crushed the first pitch he saw onto the concourse behind the Conoco pump in left-center, staking a 3-0 lead for the team.  The lead grew to 5-0 in the 4th when the Astros got some more traffic on the bases against Sanchez, culminating with Altuve lining a two-run single to left.

Mike Fiers didn’t have too much trouble early in the game, allowing three baserunners and throwing only 50 pitches through the first four innings.  However, a common theme with Astros starters not named Dallas Keuchel lately has been difficulty in the middle innings, and Fiers was not immune to it.  The Tigers tagged Figers for three home runs, one of which was a two-run shot, in the 5th and 6th innings.  AJ Hinch gave Fiers the hook with two outs in the 6th, and Tony Sipp, Pat Neshek, Ken Giles, and Luke Gregerson combined for 3.1 innings of shutout ball to close out the game.  The bullpen has bowed up big time in recent days, allowing just one run in their last 12.1 innings since Giles took the loss in last Wednesday’s game against the Royals.

The team gets Monday off before heading to Arlington for a three-game set against the first-place Rangers.

April 16, 2016

Tigers 5, Astros 3

W – Verlander (1-1)
L – McHugh (1-2)
S – Rodriguez (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

On Friday night the Astros scored early and the bats largely went to sleep, but the team still held on for the win.  They scored early again on Saturday and the bats went to sleep again, but this time the pitching didn’t hold up.  Collin McHugh started out well but faltered in the middle innings, and the Astros lost 5-3.

George Springer started the scoring with a two-run bullet off the left field foul pole to get out to a 2-0 lead.  Three batters later, Tyler White deposited a solo shot into the back rows of the Crawford Boxes to make it 3-0.  The bats sprinkled a few hits here and there in the remaining innings, but a couple of inning-ending double plays kept any Astros scoring threats at bay.

On the other side of the ball, the Tigers racked up 15 friggin’ hits on Astros pitching, ten of which came with McHugh on the mound.  They scored their first run in the 2nd when Victor Martinez scored from 2nd on a double to left-center by Nick Castellanos.  The ball apparently got stuck behind the padding on the fence and Castellanos tried to stretch it into a triple, but a strong throw by Colby Rasmus and an excellent relay from Carlos Correa nailed him at third.

The Tigers added cut the score to 3-2 in the 5th when a throw from third got past White at first base, allowing Jose Iglesias to score from second.  Jarrod Saltalkmodsakocjkfjdf drove a two-run homer to right in the 6th, giving the Tigers a 4-3 lead.  McHugh left the game after the next at-bat.  Pat Neshek closed out the 6th and Ken Giles and Will Harris each threw a scoreless inning in relief.  Giles’s scoreless outing drops his ERA into single digits.  Josh Fields allowed another run in the top of the 9th.

Despite giving up 15 hits, Astros pitching also struck out 12 Tigers.  Weird game.

April 15, 2016

Astros 1, Tigers 0

W – Keuchel (2-1)
L – Pelfrey (0-2)
S – Gregerson (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

With their recent luck and poor play, the Astros probably would have lost tonight’s game – or at least gone to extras – with anything less than a stellar pitching performance from Dallas Keuchel.  Fortunately, that’s exactly what they got: eight scoreless innings from the ace and no legitimate offensive threat from the Tigers for pretty much the entire night.  Houston notched a run early and held on by their fingernails to win 1-0.

It didn’t have to be that way though.  The Astros had Mike Pelfrey on the ropes for the first three innings but weren’t able to make the game uninteresting.  With two on and one out in the first, Colby Rasmus drove in George Springer from second, then Tyler White walked to load the bases.  These runners would subsequently be stranded as Evan Gattis struck out and Carlos Gomez ended the inning on a grounder to third.  The Astros loaded the bases again in the 2nd – this time with no one out – and were again unable to push anyone across, this time thanks to a Springer foul-tip K and a Carlos Correa GIDP.  The Astros would add two more inning-ending double-plays in the 3rd and 5th innings and stranded Jason Castro at third in the 4th.  The bats went silent after that.

Keuchel was dealing all night, scattering five hits and a walk over eight innings and at one point retiring 11 Tigers in a row from the 3rd inning into the 7th.  He also worked efficiently, sitting at around 60 pitches going into the 6th inning.  He had to work harder after Miguel Cabrera worked a ten-pitch at-bat to close out the 6th, finally punching him out on a beautiful low slider.  Gregerson only threw five pitches in the 9th to nail down the save.

Tonight’s sign of the baseball apocalypse: Jason Castro went 2×3 and swiped a base, giving him a higher batting average (.185) and more stolen bases (1) than Carlos Gomez (.184, 0).  Awesome.

April 10, 2016

Brewers 3, Astros 2

W – Nelson (1-1)
L – Keuchel (1-1)
S – Jeffress (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

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.)

April 9, 2016

Astros 6, Brewers 4

W – Fister (1-0)
L – Peralta (0-2)
S – Gregerson (2)

Box Score

GameZone thread

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.

April 8, 2016

Brewers 6, Astros 4

W – Anderson (1-0)
L – Feldman (0-1)
S – Jeffress (2)

Box Score

GameZone thread

Friday’s game against the Brewers gave you that same early queasy feeling that you got Wednesday and Thursday.  For the third day in a row an Astros starting pitcher dug an early hole for the team.  Despite a late rally that got cut short thanks to a new rule, the Astros fell to the Brewers 6-4.  Five of the Brewers’ six runs came on big home runs to center or deep right-center.

Scott Feldman’s control was all over the place to start the game.  Scooter Gennett started the happy fun times with one out and nobody on in the 1st, absolutely crushing a Feldman pitch that is probably still in low orbit over Lake Michigan.  A couple batters later, Chris Carter did what we all were kind of expecting, taking Feldman deep for a two-run shot.  Domingo Santana added an RBI double in the 2nd to take the score to 4-0.  Although Feldman was able to stop the bleeding after that, he still only lasted four innings.  In the last three games Astros starters have combined for just 9.1 innings.  This is a problem.

Chris Devenski made his MLB debut for Houston and came in for three fairly impressive scoreless innings.  Josh Fields did quite the opposite, serving up the third bomb to center to make the lead 6-0.

On offense, for almost the entire night the good guys could never put together a sustained rally when it mattered despite getting a runner into scoring position several times.  One of those times was Carlos Gomez, who was erased to retire the side while getting caught in a rundown in the 5th.

Things did get interesting in the 9th, though.  Correa singled and Gomez tapped an infield single to second.  Tyler White then unloaded an opposite-field bomb off the top of the wall in right-center to make it 6-3.  White went 3×4 on the night, is hitting a sweet .692 through four games, and is seeing beachballs at the plate right now.  Marwin then walked and scored from home on a Preston Tucker double to left-center.  Rasmus then walked to bring Altuve to the plate with two on and one out.  On a grounder to second, Gennett flipped the ball to Jonathan Villar at short for the force play on Rasmus.  Instead of a standard slide that might have actually beaten the throw, Rasmus slid with his left foot high and then slid past the bag.  Thanks to the new Utley Rule to protect fielders in such a situation, Altuve was called out despite Villar not even making an attempt to throw to first.  Ballgame, and a disappointing way for a promising rally to end.

There were a couple of defensive bright spots as well.  Gomez made a nice diving catch in shallow left-center, and although Jason Castro is 0-fer the season at the plate, he is doing some good work behind it, nailing two runners on the night.