Houston loses fourth straight in extra innings
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 3-2 loss
Aug 17, 2019, 1:22 am
Houston loses fourth straight in extra innings
Houston was in Oakland on Friday night for game two of the four-game series against the A's. They had Justin Verlander on the mound as they attempted to end their three-game skid and get things back on track. Here is a recap of the game:
Final Score: A's 3, Astros 2.
Record: 78-45, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Lou Trevino (4-5, 4.85 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Cy Sneed (0-1, 4.26 ERA).
After his four earned run outing against Baltimore last Sunday, Justin Verlander needed one of his typical dominant starts to rebound and get back on track. He looked in command for most of the night, peppering the zone with strikes to rack up strikeouts all through the night.
Unfortunately, two of the four hits he allowed were solo home runs, which tainted his otherwise terrific night, though he would work his way up to another double-digit strikeout night with seven innings pitched. His final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, 2 HR.
.@JustinVerlander is the oldest pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2002 to go 6 straight games with 10+ Ks.
Verlander also sets a new @Astros mark for consecutive games (6) with 10+ Ks. pic.twitter.com/PFTsbOVWE9
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 17, 2019
While Verlander was working his way through seven two-run innings, Houston's offense was held scoreless until the sixth inning. In the top of the sixth, Michael Brantley hit a one-out double before the Astros loaded the bases. Carlos Correa put Houston on the board with a sacrifice fly, then Yuli Gurriel put Houston ahead 2-1 at the time with an RBI-single but was thrown out trying to advance to second, ending in the inning.
With Verlander's night done after seven innings, Ryan Pressly was first out of Houston's bullpen to throw the bottom of the eighth inning. He worked around a two-out walk, sending the tied game to the ninth. Houston came up empty in the top of the inning, resulting in Roberto Osuna coming in for the bottom half to try and send the game to extra innings. Osuna did his job, retiring the A's in order, giving the Astros another chance to win the game.
Despite getting two runners on, the Astros were unable to score in the top half of the tenth. Will Harris gave them another chance, getting a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning to push the game one inning further. The two teams would come up with another scoreless inning in the eleventh, with the middle of Houston's order unable to get anything going then Joe Smith shutting down Oakland in the bottom half.
In the twelfth inning, the Astros were again retired in order in the top of the inning while in the bottom half Hector Rondon allowed a leadoff double. Oakland was able to move the runner to third, but Rondon would get out of it and send the game to another inning.
While Houston was able to get some runners on base in the top of the thirteenth, they would again come away empty. Cy Sneed attempted to send the game to the fourteenth but instead allowed the walk-off hit to lose the game.
Up Next: The third game of this series will be on Saturday with a 3:05 PM Central start. The Astros will get a fill-in start from Rogelio Armenteros (1-0, 1.93 ERA) as Tuesday's doubleheader along with Gerrit Cole's injury has left a hole in Houston's rotation, while Oakland is expected to start Chris Bassitt (8-5, 3.56 ERA).
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
Jose Altuve asked manager Joe Espada to move him out of the leadoff spot and into the second hole for the Houston Astros.
The reason? He wanted more time to get ready to hit in the bottom of the first inning after coming into the dugout from left field.
Altuve is playing left for the first time in his career after spending his first 14 major league seasons at second base.
“I just need like 10 more seconds,” he said.
The 34-year-old Altuve made the transition to the outfield this season after the trade of Kyle Tucker and the departure of Alex Bregman shook up Houston’s lineup.
Jeremy Peña was in the top spot Monday night against Detroit. Altuve had two hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBIs to help the Astros to an 8-5 win. It was the first time since 2023 he batted anywhere besides leadoff.
“I enjoy playing baseball,” Altuve said. “I love playing, especially with these guys. I like being in the lineup. In the end it doesn’t really matter if I play second or left, if I lead off or not. I just want to be in the lineup and help this team to win.”
Altuve didn’t suggest that Peña take his leadoff spot.
“I just told Joe that maybe he can hit me second some games at some point and he did it today,” Altuve said. “I just need like that little extra time to come from left field, and he decided to put Jeremy (there).”
Peña is hitting .265 with three homers and 11 RBIs. He batted first in Sunday’s 7-3 win over Kansas City — with Altuve getting a day off — and had two hits and three RBIs. He added two more hits and scored twice Monday.
Along with giving him a little extra time to get ready to bat, Altuve thinks the athletic Peña batting leadoff could give a boost to a lineup that has struggled at times this season.
“Jeremy is one of those guys that has been playing really good for our team,” Altuve said. “He’s taking really good at-bats. He’s very explosive and dynamic on the bases, so when he gets on base a lot of things can happen. Maybe I can bunt him over so Yordan (Alvarez) can drive him in.”
Altuve is a nine-time All-Star. The 2017 AL MVP is hitting .282 with four homers and 12 RBIs this season.
Espada said he and Altuve often share different ideas about the team and they had been talking about this possibility for a while before the manager made the move.
“He’s always looking for ways to get everyone involved and he’s playing left field, comes in, maybe give him a little bit more time to get ready between at-bats, just a lot of things that went into this decision," Espada said. "He’s been around, he knows himself better than anyone else here, so hopefully this could create some opportunities for everyone here and we can score some runs.”