Jose Altuve is back
Altuve returns, Astros start series against Mariners with a win
Apr 26, 2021, 10:18 pm
Jose Altuve's return sparked a big night for Houston's lineup. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
Jose Altuve's return sparked a big night for Houston's lineup.
After a get-right 3-1 series against the Angels over the weekend, the Astros continued the eight-game homestand on Monday by kicking off a four-game set against the Mariners. Houston hoped to fare better at home against them after dropping two of three in Seattle the last time they met earlier this month. The game also marked the return of Jose Altuve, who would play a big part in Houston starting the series with a win to move back to .500 on the year:
Final Score: Astros 5, Mariners 2
Astros' Record: 11-11, fourth in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Jose Urquidy (1-2)
Losing Pitcher: Justus Sheffield (1-2)
Jose Altuve makes a loud return to the lineup
Jose Altuve, making his return to the lineup after missing time due to COVID protocol, made his presence felt in the leadoff spot by getting on base in Houston's first at-bat in the bottom of the first. He would come around to score the first run of the game on an RBI double by Yordan Alvarez, who would also score on an RBI single by Yuli Gurriel, putting the Astros out to the early 2-0 lead.
Altuve would play a part in another scoring play in the bottom of the fourth, getting a two-out two-RBI single to make it a 4-1 game at the time. They scored again in the bottom of the fifth, with Alex Bregman reaching on an infield single and moving along to third to set up a sac fly by Kyle Tucker, extending the lead to four runs at 5-1.
Urquidy goes six while giving up two runs
The one run for the Mariners through those first five innings was a solo home run by Kyle Lewis off of Jose Urquidy in the top of the third. Urquidy was otherwise avoiding damage until a leadoff solo homer by Kyle Seager in the top of the sixth, making it a three-run game at 5-2. Urquidy would go on to finish that inning, but touching the high 90s in pitch count would not go any further. His final line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 96 P.
Houston starts the series with a win
With Urquidy's night done, the first arm out of Houston's bullpen was Bryan Abreu, who would toss a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts. Ryne Stanek was next, erasing a one-out single and two-out walk to keep it a three-run game. With it still 5-2 going to the top of the ninth, the Astros would bring in closer Ryan Pressly, who would finish things off to start the series with a win, Houston's fourth in their last five games, putting them back at an even record.
Up Next: This series rolls on Tuesday night with another 7:10 PM start. Marco Gonzales (1-2, 6.04 ERA) will be on the mound for Seattle, while Cristian Javier (2-0, 1.32 ERA) will stay in the rotation for another start for Houston.
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Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.