Astros get a walk-off win against Boston
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 4-3 win
May 25, 2019, 9:43 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
With a win in game one of the series the night before in the books, the Astros looked to lock up the series win with a victory Saturday evening. Here's how the game went:
Final Score: Astros 4, Red Sox 3.
Record: 35-18, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Roberto Osuna (3-0, 1.54 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Matt Barnes (2-1, 2.25 ERA).
1) Peacock does it again
Brad Peacock took the mound on Saturday riding a three-game winning streak over his last three starts. He looked just as good in this as those, keeping Boston out of the scoring column. He had to work out of a couple of jams along the way, but in the end, it was a great start: six innings, five hits, zero runs, one walk, and eight strikeouts. That should have been enough for a win, but unfortunately would not factor in the decision.
2) Bats break through in the sixth, add on in the seventh, walk it off in the ninth
Houston's offense had a weird start to their night with starter David Price leaving the game with flu-like symptoms just two outs into the first inning. That would make it a bullpen day for the Red Sox, and it would prove tough for the Astros as they would be held scoreless through the first five innings.
Things changed in the sixth, though, after Carlos Correa worked a one-out walk then Yuli Gurriel moved him to second on a single. That would set up Josh Reddick for the biggest hit of the night so far, an RBI single to put the first run on the board for either team. Tyler White extended that lead to 2-0 in the next at-bat with an RBI single of his own. Houston's bats did more work against Boston's bullpen in the seventh, getting a leadoff double from Aledmys Diaz who would eventually come around to score on an RBI from Gurriel to make it a 3-1 game.
After the Red Sox tied the game 3-3 in the top of the ninth, it was up to Houston's offense again to come up with a run to win the game. Once again, Diaz sparked things by leading off the bottom of the ninth with a double. He'd move to third after Houston worked back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs, then come around to score the winning run on an RBI by Carlos Correa.
3) Rough appearance for Osuna
Hector Rondon took over for Peacock to start the seventh, but would only be able to notch two outs while putting two on base, resulting in a call for Ryan Pressly to take over. Pressly would give up an RBI-single to cut the lead in half at 2-1 before Houston would catch a runner advancing to end the inning.
Pressly remained in the game for the eighth and retired the Red Sox in order, setting up Roberto Osuna to take over in the ninth. Osuna would crumble, giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning, then hitting the next batter to load the bases with no outs. That was followed with a two-run single to tie the game before Osuna would finally get out of the inning, leaving the game tied.
Up Next: Houston will wrap up this series, which is also the last game of the season series, with Boston tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 PM. The pitching matchup will be Justin Verlander (8-1, 2.24 ERA) for the Astros going against Eduardo Rodriguez (4-3, 5.43 ERA) for the Red Sox. With a win, Houston will sweep this series and take five out of six in the regular-season series.
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
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While holding one’s breath that for a change the Astros aren’t publicly grossly underestimating an injury’s severity with Jose Altuve having missed the last game and a half with “right side discomfort…”
The Astros averting a sweep vs. Oakland Thursday was in no way a must-win, but getting the win allowed a mini sigh of relief. The Astros are NOT in the process of choking. Could they collapse? Sure that’s possible. Also possible is that they’ve just been in one more ebb phase in a season of ebb and flow. They certainly have left the door ajar for the Seattle Mariners to swipe the American League West, but with the M's simply not looking good enough to walk through that door the Astros remain in commanding position. The Astros made a spectacular charge from 10 games behind to grab the division lead. But there was a lot of runway left when the Astros awoke June 19th 10 games in arrears. September 3 the Astros arose with a comfy six game lead over the M’s. With Seattle blowing a 4-1 eighth inning lead in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers Thursday night, heading into Friday night the Astros' advantage is back up to four and a half games despite the Astros having lost six of their last nine games and having gone just 10-12 over their last 22 games. Not a good stretch but nothing freefalling about it.
While the Mariners have the remainder of their four-game series vs. the dead in the water Rangers this weekend, the Astros play three at the lousy Los Angeles Angels. The Astros should take advantage of the Halos, with whom they also have a four-game series at Minute Maid Park next weekend. Since the All-Star break, only the White Sox have a worse record than the Angels 19-31 mark (the White Sox are 6-43 post-break!). Two of the three starting pitchers the Angels will throw this weekend will be making their third big league starts. To begin next week the Astros are in San Diego for a three-game-set against a Padres club which is flat better than the Astros right now. That does not mean the Astros can’t take that series. The Mariners meanwhile will be still at home, for three vs. the Yankees.
There are some brutal Astros’ statistics that largely explain why this is merely a pretty good team and not more. As I have noted before, it is a fallacy that the best teams are usually superior in close games. But the Astros have been pathetic in close games. There used to be a joke made about Sammy Sosa that he could blow you out, but he couldn’t beat you. Meaning being that when the score was 6-1, 8-3 or the like Sammy would pad his stats with home runs and runs batted in galore. But in a tight game, don’t count on Sammy to come through very often. In one-run games the Astros are 15-26, in two-run games they are 10-14. In games that were tied after seven innings they are 3-12. In extra innings they are 5-10. The good news is, all those realities mean nothing when the postseason starts. So long as you’re in the postseason. In games decided by three or more runs the Astros have pummeled the opposition to the tune of 53 wins and 28 losses.
General Manager Dana Brown isn’t an Executive of the Year candidate, but overall he’s been fine this season. Without the Yusei Kikuchi trade deadline acquisition the Astros would likely barely lead the AL West. Brown’s biggest offseason get, Victor Caratini, has done very solid work in his part-time role. Though he has tapered off notably the last month and change, relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a fabulous signing. Scrap heap pickups Ben Gamel, Jason Heyward, and Kaleb Ort have all made contributions. However…
Dana. Dana! You made yourself look very silly with comments this week somewhat scoffing at people being concerned with or dismissive of Justin Verlander’s ability to be a meaningful playoff contributor. Brown re-sang a ridiculous past tune, the “check the back of his baseball card” baloney. Dana, did you mean like the back of Jose Abreu’s baseball card? Perhaps Brown has never seen those brokerage ads in which at the end in fine print and/or in rapidly spoken words “past performance is no guarantee of future results” always must be included. Past (overall career) performance as indicative of future results for a 41-year-old pitcher who has frequently looked terrible and has twice missed chunks of this season to two different injuries is absurd. That Verlander could find it in time is plausible. That of course he’ll find it? Absolutely not. His next two starts are slotted to be against the feeble Angels, so even if the results are better, it won’t mean “JV IS BACK!”
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