Houston's bullpen woes continue
Astros blow four-run lead before losing in extras to Giants
Aug 12, 2020, 12:07 am
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Astros Jose Altuve
After snapping a five-game losing streak with a win to start the three-game series with the Giants on Monday, the Astros had a chance to secure the series victory on Tuesday. Here is how the middle game went:
Final Score (10 innings): Giants 7, Astros 6.
Record: 7-10, third in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Trevor Gott (1-0, 1.50 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Cy Sneed (0-3, 6.75 ERA).
Astros build another early lead behind another solid Bielak start
The Giants would strike first on Tuesday, hitting a solo home run off of Brandon Bielak in the top of the second to grab a 1-0 lead. Houston's offense would answer right away in the bottom of the inning, getting a one-out triple by Kyle Tucker, followed by an RBI-double by Martin Maldonado to tie the game. Later in the frame, a go-ahead two-RBI double by Josh Reddick gave Houston a 3-1 lead.
Breg bombs x Crawford Boxes are a perfect match. #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/FlpITVb0w4
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 12, 2020
Alex Bregman made it a three-run lead in the bottom of the third, leading off the inning with a solo home run. San Francisco would get that run back in the top of the fifth, getting a run on a walk and two hits in the inning, making it 4-2. With that extended inning, Bielak would hit 84 pitches, and that would be it for him. His final line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.
Houston extends their lead, San Francisco rallies to tie and force extras
First out of the bullpen was Enoli Paredes for the top of the sixth. He made it a 1-2-3 inning, retiring the Giants in order. In the bottom of the inning, the first three batters all singled to load the bases with no outs. It looked like it may go to waste after a third-to-home double play left runners on first and second with two outs, but Myles Straw would deliver an RBI-single. Jose Altuve got a much-needed RBI-single in the next at-bat to push the lead to 6-2.
Paredes returned in the top of the seventh but would get two outs and walk a batter before Dusty Baker went to his bullpen again to bring out Blake Taylor. Taylor would get the third out, but not before issuing a walk to set up a three-run home run by former-Astro Hunter Pence, making it a one-run game at 6-5.
Still a one-run game in the top of the eighth, Andre Scrubb took over on the mound and kept the lead intact by stranding a leadoff walk and two-out single to complete the inning. After a scoreless bottom of the eighth for Houston's offense, they would bring in their current closer, Ryan Pressly, for the second-straight night. He would blow the save, allowing a walk and single to put runners on the corners to set up the tying RBI-single. He would recover to get the final two outs, sending the 6-6 game to the bottom of the ninth, where Houston would come up empty, forcing extra innings.
Giants get a go-ahead run and win in extras
In what has seemed like a regular occurrence in 2020, Cy Sneed was on the mound to start the tenth inning. He would not fare any better than his last outing, where he blew a one-run lead in the thirteenth and allowed a walk-off to Oakland, allowing back-to-back singles to start the inning to put the Giants ahead 7-6 for their first lead of the night. He would get two more outs before Houston brought in their new reliever, Brooks Raley, to get the third out.
In the bottom half, George Springer would pinch-run for Michael Brantley, and moved to third on a groundout to start the inning, but would get left stranded there as the Astros would fall in extra innings, allowing the Giants to tie the series.
Up Next: The final game of this three-game set will start Wednesday at 6:10 PM Central, an earlier start than the first two games. The pitching matchup is not yet finalized with San Francisco still taking their rotation day-by-day, but Houston will send Zack Greinke (0-0, 3.00 ERA) to the mound.
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Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. He has often looked befuddled in the batter's box. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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