Houston's losing streak extended to five games
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 8-4 loss
Aug 17, 2019, 6:11 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
After the two teams went thirteen innings on Friday night with the A's ultimately winning, Houston looked to end their four-game skid with a win on Saturday afternoon. Here is a quick rundown of the game:
Final Score: A's 8, Astros 4.
Record: 78-46, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Chris Bassitt (9-5, 3.61 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Rogelio Armenteros (1-1, 4.00 ERA).
1) Astros strike first
While it looked like Houston was going to jump out to an immediate lead in the top of the first after loading the bases, they instead stranded all three runners. However, they would still get on the board first by getting back-to-back singles to lead off the third before an RBI-double by Alex Bregman and sacrifice fly by Yordan Alvarez put them ahead 2-0.
After going down 5-2 in the bottom of the third, Houston would get their next run on a solo home run crushed by Yordan Alvarez in the top of the fifth. That got them within two runs at 5-3 at the time.
2) A poor third inning ruins the afternoon for Armenteros
Rogelio Armenteros looked to be pitching well through the first two innings, allowing just one hit across the first two frames. However, he struggled to get the first out in the bottom of the third, loading the bases on three straight singles before Oakland would put up five runs and take a 5-2 lead.
Armenteros finished that horrible inning, as well as a quick fourth, but with his pitch count rising was not asked to go any further. His final line: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR.
3) Alvarez crushes another, but Oakland secures series win
Chris Devenski was the first out of Houston's depleted bullpen, taking over for Armenteros to pitch the bottom of the fifth. He would post another poor appearance, allowing three runs to extend Oakland's lead to 8-3. Collin McHugh was next on the mound in the bottom of the sixth and although he also allowed Oakland to load the bases, was able to leave all runners stranded.
McHugh stayed in the game in the bottom of the seventh and was able to workout around a leadoff double to post a second scoreless inning. In the top of the eighth, Yordan Alvarez drilled his second home run of the day, making it an 8-4 game.
Can't spell Yordan without ROY. #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/GUG3gdxHz1
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 17, 2019
Joe Smith was the fourth pitcher of the game for Houston, throwing a scoreless bottom of the eighth inning. The Astros would come up empty in the top of the ninth, extending their losing streak to five games while Oakland secured the series win.
Up Next: Houston will conclude this series with the A's and also this road trip with one last game in Oakland on Sunday at 3:07 PM. The Astros will get their third start from Zack Greinke (12-4, 2.91 ERA) as they look to avoid the four-game sweep, while Oakland is expected to counter with Brett Anderson (10-8, 3.95 ERA).
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Astros close series with a performance worth the wait
Jun 5, 2025, 11:59 pm
All-Star balloting opened up this week for what used to be known as the Midsummer Classic in Major League Baseball. I guess some still refer to it as such but the All-Star Game has been largely a bore for many years, though the honor of being selected on merit remains a big one. As always, fans can vote at all positions except pitcher. The fan balloting has resulted in mostly good selections for years now, though pretty much all teams still do silly marketing stuff trying to drum up support for their players. The Astros’ part in that silliness is their campaign to make it the “All-’Stros” game on the American League squad in Atlanta next month. It’s one thing to be supportive of your team, it’s another to be flat out ridiculous if voting right now for Yainer Diaz, Christian Walker, Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon, or Cam Smith. The Astros tried to game the system in submitting Jose Altuve as a second baseman where the competition is weaker than it is in the outfield, but given Altuve has played only about 25 percent of the games at second base this season he should not be an All-Star second baseman selectee for what would be the tenth time in his career.
Isaac Paredes’s recent freefall notwithstanding, he has a legitimate case as a backup third baseman, especially with Alex Bregman likely missing more than a month of games due to his quad injury. Jake Meyers is having a fine season but is obviously not an All-Star-worthy outfielder unless he is sensational for the rest of June. That leaves Jeremy Peña, who is simply the best shortstop in the big leagues so far this season. To be clear, no team in baseball (including the Astros) would rather have Peña going forward than the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., but we’re talking about the here and now. There are another 100 games to be played, but Peña not only is about a lock to deserve his first All-Star nod, but he is in contention to put in the books the greatest season ever by an Astro shortstop.
Over his first three seasons, Peña was a consistently mediocre offensive player. His highest batting average was .266, best on-base percentage .324, top slugging percentage .426. He is blowing away all those numbers thus far in 2025. While unlikely to come close to reaching his preseason goal of 50 stolen bases, Peña is swiping bags at the best success rate of his career. Add in Peña’s stellar defense and that he has played in every Astros’ game so far this season, and Peña has been irrefutably one of the 10 best and most valuable players in the American League. You could certainly argue as high as top three.
If Peña's productivity holds up for the rest of the season there are only three other seasons posted by Astro shortstops that are in the same league as what would be Peña’s 2025. Carlos Correa has two of them. Lack of durability may be the biggest reason Correa is not tracking to be a Hall of Famer. In only two seasons as an Astro did Correa play in more than 136 games. He was fabulous in each of them. 2021 was his peak campaign, playing in 148 games while compiling an .850 OPS, winning a Gold Glove, and finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. Correa’s Baseball-Reference wins above replacement number for 2021 was 7.3. Peña is at 3.6 with nearly 20 games still left before the midway point of the schedule.
For the other great Astro shortstop season you have to go back to 1983. Dickie Thon turned 25 years old in June of ‘83. He put up a .798 OPS, which gains in stature given Thon played his home games in the Astrodome when the Dome was at its most pitching-friendly. Thon won the Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive shortstop in the National League, and played superior defense. His Baseball-Reference WAR number was 7.4. He finished seventh for NL MVP playing for an 85-77 Astros’ squad that finished third in the NL West. Dickie Thon looked like an emerging superstar. Then, in the fifth game of the 1984 season, a fastball from Mets’ pitcher Mike Torrez hit Thon in the left eye, fracturing his orbital bone. Thon missed the rest of the ‘84 season. While Thon played in nine more big league seasons, his vision never fully recovered and he was never the same player. It’s one of the biggest “What if...” questions in Astros’ history.
Arms race
Players and the Commissioner’s Office pick the All-Star pitching staffs. Unless he suddenly starts getting lit up regularly, Hunter Brown can pack a bag for Georgia. Framber Valdez wouldn’t make it now but has surged into contention. Josh Hader’s first half is going vastly better than last year’s, so he is in line for a reliever spot.
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!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!