Astros drop the middle game to Cleveland
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 2 hits from the 10-4 loss
Jul 31, 2019, 9:20 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
With a huge trade deadline in the books which came to a peak when it was announced that the Astros had traded for Zack Greinke, Houston got back to work on Wednesday night for the middle game of the series against the Indians. Here is a recap of the game:
Final Score: Indians 10, Astros 4.
Record: 69-40, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Zach Plesac (6-3, 3.41 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Jose Urquidy (1-1, 5.87 ERA).
1) Urquidy takes a step back
After back-to-back quality starts from Jose Urquidy, he was on the mound to make it three straight against a tough Indians lineup on Wednesday night. Instead, he would lose the battle and regress from his recent success. He allowed a lot of traffic on the bases, recording no 1-2-3 innings in the start.
Putting baserunners on resulted in big blows two times in the start for Urquidy, who would allow three-run home runs in the second and fifth innings, erasing one-run leads that Houston had accumulated both times.
Houston would remove him before recording an out in the fifth, making it a short and disappointing night. His final line: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR. Chris Devenski was brought in to complete the fifth inning.
2) Houston's offense unable to dig out of the hole
As mentioned, Houston had worked their way to leads twice in the game with Urquidy on the mound. First, they moved to a 1-0 lead after a solo home run by Carlos Correa in the top of the second. Then, after loading the bases in the third, Yuli Gurriel put an exclamation point on his terrific month with a bases-clearing double to make it 4-3 at the time.
They threatened in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with two outs but would come away empty. Meanwhile, the Indians tacked on to their lead to put things out of reach by getting four more runs on two homers against Collin McHugh in the bottom half of the inning, extending their lead to 10-4.
While Houston would get scoreless innings from Cy Sneed in the seventh and Bryan Abreu, making his MLB debut, in the eighth, the Astros would be unable to mount a comeback, dropping the middle game of the series.
Up Next: The series finale and rubber match between Houston and Cleveland will be tomorrow night with another 6:10 PM start. Houston will send Gerrit Cole (12-5, 2.94 ERA) to the mound to try and extend his recent hot streak and win the series, while Cleveland is expected to start Danny Salazar who will be making his first start since 2017 after undergoing shoulder surgery.
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
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Kyle Tucker launched a three-run homer and matched a season high with four hits against the team that traded him in December, and the Chicago Cubs routed Houston 12-3 on Saturday night to stop the Astros' five-game winning streak.
Tucker also scored four times to pace a Cubs lineup that pounded out 15 hits, including three by Dansby Swanson. Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner also went deep.
Chicago hit three homers in an inning for the second time this season during a seven-run fourth. Busch and Hoerner had back-to-back solo shots to put the Cubs on top 3-2, and Tucker’s drive made it 7-2.
The offensive outburst came in support of Colin Rea (5-3), who allowed two runs and five hits over five innings. The only blemish on his line was rookie Cam Smith’s two-run homer in the third, which briefly gave the Astros a 2-1 lead.
Smith, part of the package Houston received for Tucker, finished with two hits and has homered in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Lance McCullers Jr. (1-3) came off the injured list and allowed eight runs on seven hits over 3 1/3 innings.
Isaac Paredes, also part of the Astros' trade return for Tucker, hit his 17th home run.
Key moment
Tucker’s three-run homer in the fourth that put the Cubs ahead 7-2.
Key stat
McCullers has a 10.89 ERA in five home starts this season, but hasn’t allowed an earned run in three road starts.
Up next
Houston LHP Framber Valdez (8-4, 2.88 ERA) opposes RHP Jameson Taillon (7-5, 4.77 ERA) when the series concludes Sunday.