May 6, 2016

Astros 6, Mariners 3

W – Fister (3-3)
L – Walker (2-2)
S – Gregerson (7)

Box Score

GameZone thread

Yay, offense!  The Astros had built up a 5-0 lead at one point and looked like they might cruise through this one, but some oopsies in the 7th made it a little more interesting.  Not complaining overall.

Carlos Correa went deep in the 1st to stake an early lead against Taijuan Walker.  Marwin Gonzalez hit a two-run blast in the 2nd, which was the 26th homer of his career and the first non-solo homer of his career, ending a MLB record streak that he had locked up 15 homers ago.  Touch ‘em all, Marwin – we’re glad that you finally had someone to high-five at home plate.

Walker looked uncomfortable on the mound and left the game after the 2nd inning with what were later revealed as neck spasms.  His immediate relief, Mayckol Guaipe (my spell-check just caught fire), pitched two scoreless innings before giving up a 2-spot in the 5th.  After singles from Castro and Springer, Correa notched an RBI single and was followed by a sac fly from Rasmus.

Doug Fister had things on lockdown through six innings, facing just one batter above the minimum.  He ran into a buzzsaw in the 7th, though.  With one out and nobody on, Fister plunked Nelson Cruz, gave up a double to Kyle Seager, and walked Adam Lind to load the bases.  This was enough for Hinch to give him the hook, bringing in Pat Neshek to get out of the jam.  It looked like that just might happen after Correa made an outstanding play to his right, reining in a line drive by Chris Iannetta that very nearly found daylight.  But Ketel Marte lined a Neshek sinking fastball down the first base line, clearing the bases and making the Astros’ lead a lot less comfortable.

The team got a run back in the bottom half of the inning with a bases-loaded Rasmus groundout.  Will Harris pitched a scoreless 8th; I think one of my favorite things about watching Harris pitch is how he gets batters to offer at pitches that bounce in front of the plate.  Tonight it was Robinson Cano checking his swing and fouling off such a pitch.  Luke Gregerson atoned for his poor outing on Thursday with a scoreless 9th to close it out.

May 5, 2016

Mariners 6, Astros 3

W: Vincent (2-1) L: Gregerson (0-1) S: Cishek (9)

HR: Altuve (9!!!)

Game Zone

Box score

Win probability

We’re not yet 30 games in, and we’re running out of ways to say that the Astros lost via a combination of poor pitching and poor base running.

Let’s start with the good news:

• After another leadoff homer, Jose Altuve is now 14-27 plus 2 walks leading off the game, for a split line of .519/.552/1.296
• Gates came up with an actual 2 out RBI.
• Devenski continues to show that he is a viable starter.

That’s it.  That’s the list.

Devenski cruised through six innings, his lone run coming on allowing 3 straight singles with two out in the 3rd.  He left the game with a 2-1 lead thanks to Altuve’s HR and a Gattis RBI single in the 6th (after Correa’s GIDP seemingly snuffed a rally).

Then the bullpen happened.

Bringing Giles in to face the 7-8-9 hitters would seem a logical next step in the “let’s get his confidence back” plan.  Unfortunately, he walked the first hitter, and gave up a dribbler that he and White conspired to turn into a single.  Getting the force at third on a bunt seemed to tamp down the threat, and Sipp then entered to face the lefties at the top of the lineup.  Unfortunately, Sipp was all over the place, walking another man to load the bases and then surrendering a 2-run single.  Fortunately he got a GIDP from Cano to limit further damage.

White actually started things off in the bottom of the 7th with a double, his first extra base hit since the earth cooled.  After a Tucker strikeout and a Castro walk, Altuve (who is trying to single-handedly carry this team) doubled onto Tal’s Hill.  Unfortunately, Pettis decided to send Castro, despite there being one out and Springer and Correa waiting to hit.  Castro was gunned down, the game remained tied, and Springer’s fly ball ended the inning instead of plating Castro.

In the 9th, Gregerson loaded the bases via single-walk-single with one out, and then Cano crushed one over Gomez’s head to clear the bases.  Ballgame.

Astros beat up on the Twins 16 – 4

WP: Feldman (1-2)

LP: Hughes (1-5)

Box Score

Game Zone Thread

Wednesday night the Astros accomplished something they hadn’t done all year. They won two in a row. That is important because you can not have a winning record without winning at least two games in a row at least once during a season. Since the Astros have dug an early season hole, it will take a few more two wins in a row and a few less two losses in a row to turn the season around. But you got to start somewhere and last night was it.

After the Twins were shutdown in their half of the first inning, Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the first with another solo home run. His fifth lead off dinger and 8th homer of the year. No one closed the gate after Altuve scored and the Astros took advantage. They grabbed their good bats and swung their asses off to the tune of 16 runs.

The luxury of a lead was more than Mike Fiers could handle. He cruised through the first, struggled in the second, gave up three runs in the third, one run in the fourth, and was gone before he could finish the fifth. Josh Fields came in to get the last out of the fifth. Scott Feldman came on in the sixth inning, pitched two perfect innings and was given credit for the win. Feldman has been nothing short of brilliant in his last two relief appearances. Michael Feliz pitched well for the last two innings to close out the game.

Altuve was joined by Jason Castro (2nd) and Carlos Correa (4th) on the home run podium. Every starter but Marwin Gonzales got a hit, he did walk twice, and the team ended up with 14 hits, and 7 free passes via the base on balls. Both Altuve and Correa were a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Fun game.

The Astros will send rookie Chris Devenski to the mound opposite Seattle’s Wade Miley in Thursday’s 7:10 p.m. CT series opener against the division leading Mariners at Minute Maid Park

May 1, 2015

Astros 2, A’s 1

W – Fister (2-3)
L – Hill (3-3)
S – Gregerson (5)

Box Score

GameZone thread

Sunday’s game featured another substandard offensive showing, but at least today it was enough for a win.  The Astros managed only two hits against A’s pitching, but they balanced that with working seven walks.  Altuve notched a leadoff homer in the 1st to take an early lead, Castro led off the 3rd inning with a single, and the Astros were done hitting for the day.  The Astros managed to load the bases on walks after Castro, and then Rasmus hit a sac fly to the warning track in right center, missing a grand slam by 10-15 feet.

Two runs was all that Doug Fister needed today.  He worked himself into some jams in the 2nd (bases loaded) and 3rd (runners at the corners) and then pitched out of them, then went on cruise control until the 7th.  Springer made a diving grab of a Coco Crisp liner to lead off the inning, then three consecutive hits by the A’s cut Houston’s lead to 2-1.  Fister induced a 1-out grounder before leaving the game.  Tony Sipp cleaned up the mess in the 7th, Sipp and Harris combined for a scoreless 8th, and Gregerson pitched an uneventful 9th.

The starting pitching has been really encouraging lately, but the bats are still playing with fire and need to get their shit together.  There’s a 10-game homestand starting on Monday night so we’ll get a break from all this west coast nonsense for a while.  [Insert generic platitude about getting back on track at home.]

April 30, 2016

A’s 2, Astros 0

W – Hahn (1-0)
L – Devenski (0-1)
S – Madson (8)

Box Score

GameZone thread

I guess some games are better left played at 9pm central, but even if this had been a night game you wouldn’t have even stayed up all that late.  It only took two hours and 27 minutes for the Astros to piss this one away.

Devenski pitched a fine game – two runs in five innings – especially given that it was his first MLB start.  Feldman turned in three perfect innings of relief.  Not really much to complain about on the pitching side this time, and who gives a shit about how the A’s scored their runs.

The lineup managed only three fucking hits against Jesse Hahn, a guy who despite good career numbers in the majors was pitching in the minors earlier this week.  They also squandered the few opportunities they had:

• Through five innings every baserunner the Astros had (all two of them) were erased on double plays
• Stranded runners at the corners in the 7th
• In the 9th, bases loaded with one out, Gattis ends all drama with a game-ending GIDP.  Saw it coming from a mile away.

7-17.  Watch on Sunday if you dare.

April 29, 2016

A’s 7, Astros 4

W – Madson (1-0)
L – Sipp (0-1)

Box Score

GameZone thread

If you’re like me, you went to bed on Friday night with the Astros ahead 4-2 after six and you foolishly thought that they might actually hang on for this one.

And then you wake up, check the score, and remember that Ken Giles is on the roster and frequently pitches in relief.

Stop me if you know where this is going.

Another wasted good outing from an Astro starter; this time it was Mike Fiers, who threw seven pretty good innings and left the game with a 4-2 lead.  It was also a waste of what passes for a decent offensive showing these days, managing to not look overmatched against Sean Manaea who was making his MLB debut.  The team did continue to hurt themselves on the basepaths, with Springer getting caught stealing 2nd and Gomez being cut down trying to leg a double into a triple.

Giles happened in the 8th, allowing a solo shot and some extra traffic (aided by an Eric Kratz throwing error on a stolen base attempt) before giving up a game-tying sac fly to deep right field.  Sipp bailed him out for the rest of the 8th, but gave up a leadoff double in the 9th and was pulled for Neshek.  After inducing a sac bunt, Neshek intentionally walked Coco Crisp, not only because he was already 2×3 with a homer but also to improve double play chances.  Neshek then missed a spot on 1-0 to Yonder Alonso, leaving him a pitch about knee-high on the inside part of the plate.  I suppose there are worse pitches to throw to someone that’s about to hit a walk-off homer on you, but the result still sucks nonetheless.

So you can’t fully blame this one on Giles, but he’s still the one who is most blatantly not doing his job in the pen, it certainly affected Hinch’s choice of pitchers in the 9th (Gregerson would have pitched the 9th if it were still a save situation), and – like nearly all of Giles’s outings – it definitely affected the outcome of the game.

At least Saturday’s game is played at a reasonable friggin’ hour.