Both Cole and Houston's offense struggle in loss
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 9-4 loss
May 22, 2019, 10:26 pm
Both Cole and Houston's offense struggle in loss
With Justin Verlander providing quite the show the night before, the Astros were back at it on Wednesday night with Gerrit Cole on the mound. Here is a quick recap of the third game of the four-game series with Chicago:
Final Score: White Sox 9, Astros 4
Record: 33-17, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Ivan Nova (3-4, 6.96 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Gerrit Cole (4-5, 4.11 ERA).
Gerrit Cole was not nearly as dominant on Wednesday night as in recent starts, allowing solo home runs in the second and fourth innings to put Chicago up 2-0. He was able to strike out six over those four innings, then got number seven on the night in the fifth to get to triple digits on the season.
Despite the offense backing him up to give him a 3-2 lead, Cole would struggle in the sixth as the White Sox roared back, loading the bases while scoring two runs on four consecutive hits to lead off the inning. That would be the end of Cole's night, and Josh James, despite getting two big outs to keep Chicago from scoring to that point, would allow a grand slam to blow the game open at 8-3 and give Cole 6 earned runs on the night.
Houston's bats were able to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth after Alex Bregman put them on the board with a one-out solo home run then going on to get their second and third runs on RBIs from Carlos Correa and Aledmys Diaz.
Houston would start a rally that would come up just short in the ninth, loading the bases and getting a sac fly to make it 9-4, but would get stopped there. They'd be unable to counter-act four double plays and even a triple play in the up-and-down offensive night.
After taking Collin McHugh's spot on the roster with McHugh going on the injured list, Rodgers made his first appearance for Houston since 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. After getting a strikeout against his first batter, he was met with a monstrous solo home run which put Chicago up 9-3. He'd go on to retire the next two batters in order to complete the eighth. He'd then return to the mound for the ninth, getting a 1-2-3 inning to cap off his decent return.
Up Next: The Astros and White Sox will wrap up this series tomorrow night with the final game starting at 7:10 PM. Corbin Martin (1-0, 3.86 ERA) will make the third start of his career for Houston and go up against Lucas Giolito (5-1, 3.35 ERA) for Chicago.
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
One of the main areas of improvement for the Texans this season, has been the running game with the addition of Joe Mixon.
Mixon rushed for 100 yards or more in 5 of his first 6 games with the team. But unfortunately for Houston, Mixon hasn't been nearly as effective recently.
When looking at his recent numbers, Mixon has failed to rush for more than 46 yards in 3 of his last 5 games. Posting only 26 rushing yards against Miami on Sunday.
With this in mind, is the state of Houston's run game a major concern, especially when the playoffs begin?
Don't miss the video above as ESPN Houston's Joel Blank and special guest Barry Laminack share their thoughts.