Astros secure series win against Cubs

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 4 hits from the 9-6 win

Chris Campise
May 28, 2019, 9:18 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Houston had the chance to secure the series win against Chicago on Tuesday night after the win on Memorial Day. With injuries piling up, the game marked another debut, this time for catcher Garret Stubbs. Here is a recap of the game:

Final Score: Astros 9, Cubs 6.

Record: 37-19, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Josh James (2-0, 5.10 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Jon Lester (3-4, 3.59 ERA).

1) Memorable debut for Stubbs 

Garret Stubbs, just like Jack Mayfield the day before, squared up a ball in his first major league at-bat to record a double as his first hit. In his next appearance, he tied the game 3-3 on a blooper RBI-single. He'd finish 2-for-4 with an RBI at the plate while catching five different pitchers behind it in the win.

2) Forgettable night for Martin

While Stubbs had a great debut, Corbin Martin had his third straight rough appearance. Martin worked around a couple of singles in the first for a scoreless inning but got hammered in the top of the second as the Cubs would hit three solo home runs in the span of four batters.

He'd come back and work around a leadoff walk for a scoreless third, but with his pitch count rising and after allowing a two-out walk, would see his night come to an end. His final line: 3.2 IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K.

3) Strong offensive showing

Yuli Gurriel started the scoring on Tuesday night with an RBI-double to put the Astros up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. After going down 3-1, Alex Bregman answered with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the third, trimming the lead to 3-2.

Stubbs notched his first RBI in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game, then Houston went on to double up the Cubs with an RBI-single from Derek Fisher then a two-RBI double by Michael Brantley, making it a 6-3 Houston lead. In the bottom of the sixth, after Chicago had just tied the game in the top half, Bregman delivered his second home run of the night, a two-run bomb to put the Astros back in front, 8-6.

They didn't stop there; Tony Kemp hit a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh, stole second, moved to third on an error, then scored on an RBI-double from Jake Marisnick to give Houston an insurance run at 9-6.

4) Bullpen tasked with providing long relief

With Martin's night done after just three and two-thirds innings, the Astros went to Josh James to eat up a few innings. James finished off the fourth with a strikeout, then racked up two more in a scoreless fifth. In the sixth, though, he'd let the Cubs come right back with a two-run home run followed immediately by a solo shot to make it a 6-6 game.

With a new 8-6 lead, Hector Rondon took over for the seventh and with a little assistance from a great catch in foul territory by Tony Kemp, got through a scoreless inning. Ryan Pressly came in, as usual, for the eighth, and was able to work around a leadoff double to maintain the three-run lead.

Roberto Osuna was brought in for another save opportunity in the top of the ninth. He saved fans the theatrics of the day before, getting through the inning with no runs scored to complete the 9-6 win and give Houston the series victory.

Up Next: The Astros and Cubs will wrap up this inter-league series tomorrow night with a 7:10 PM start time for the final game. The pitching matchup will be Wade Miley (5-2, 3.32 ERA) who will try to complete the sweep for Houston facing off with Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 3.34 ERA) for Chicago.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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THE LEFT TURN

NASCAR rolls the dice in Vegas this weekend

Keep an eye on Kevin Harvick. Photo by Wiki Commons

It's been a season of surprises as the NASCAR Cup Series begins its West Coast swing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This is one of NASCAR's many mile and a half tracks, but this one is different as it is much more bumpy and when this track gets in the sun, it gets slippery as well. The track is a lot more narrow than the other mile and a half tracks as well, so there will be a lot more close quarter racing.

Last week at Homestead, William Byron pulled away from the field and went on to claim his second career victory. The Charlotte native battled back from early tire issues and ran as low as 31st until he was able to claw his way back to the front around stage 2 when he drove around the two JGR teammates of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to take the stage victory. There has been a lot of expectations and hype around this young phenom but in his first three years, it took him a while to grow into a race winner. It wasn't until last year when Byron claimed his first win at the Daytona fall race. This year he was paired with crew-chief Rudy Fugle. This pair amassed tons of success when they worked together in the Truck Series back in 2016 when they won seven races. It seems now that the pair could be back to their winning ways. This looks like this could be a good pairing down the line.

As we all know, this has been the season of surprises and those surprises continued last week as Michael McDowell went on to his third consecutive top ten finish as he finished eighth. McDowell has been sort of a journeyman driver. He has raced for teams such as LeaVine Family Racing and the now defunct Michael Waltrip Racing where he got his start. While it has only been three races, he's in the midst of a career year beginning with a victory in this year's Daytona 500. Many thought that victory was a fluke and that he was "wasting a playoff spot," but since then he has proved his haters wrong as he currently sits fourth in the points. Will this streak continue? I think it can. His string of good runs puts him in an advantageous position as he gets to start up front each week and knowing how important qualifying was, he has really been able to take advantage of this. Look for the #34 Loves Ford Mustang to build on this.

The favorite for this week's race has to be Joey Logano. In the fifteen races Logano has started in here, he has ten top fives and two victories including last season's spring Vegas race in February. He hasn't got off to the best start as it's been three up and down races for him. From finishing second at the Daytona road course to following that up with a twenty-fifth last week at Homestead. This week though I believe he can get everything back on track with a good run or a victory.

The driver that I am picking to win this week is Kevin Harvick. The future Hall of Famer has been stout this season with a 6th and 5th place finish. The speed for Harvick and his team have been there, but they just haven't been able to get the win. But this week he's going to a track he has excelled at big time. He will start from the pole this Sunday and that should really scare the whole field. He has two victories here and twelve top tens since his beginning back in 2001. I look for him to get his third victory here and begin another run for his second championship.

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