Royals crush the Astros to even series

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 2 hits from the 12-2 loss

Chris Campise
May 7, 2019, 9:56 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

With one win under their belt from the night before, Houston looked to lock up the series on Tuesday night against the Royals. Here's a quick rundown of the game:

Final Score: Royals 12, Astros 2

Record: 21-15, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Danny Duffy (1-1, 3.06 ERA)

Losing pitcher: Collin McHugh (3-4, 6.37 ERA)

1) McHugh gets roughed up, as does Valdez

After a quick first inning, McHugh unraveled through the next few, allowing a solo home run in the second to put the Royals up 1-0, then an RBI-double and grand slam in the third to extend their lead to 6-0. McHugh would stay on the mound to start the fourth but would allow two more runners before recording an out, prompting a call to the bullpen. Chris Devenski would get through the fourth, but not before allowing those two inherited runners to score, bringing McHugh's total earned runs to 8 on the night.

Framber Valdez was next out of the bullpen to try and eat up some innings after Devenski, but he too would fall victim to Kansas City's bats as he allowed the second grand slam of the night in the seventh inning to put the Royals up 12-1, a deficit the Astros would obviously not overcome. Valdez would finish three innings to get the game to the ninth, where none other than Tyler White took over to throw a scoreless ninth.

2) Bregman and Springer provide the only runs

Even with the game out of reach, the Astros didn't phone it in in the late innings. Alex Bregman got Houston on the board, finally, with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. George Springer provided the only other run on the night with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.

Up Next: Houston and Kansas City will wrap up this series with another 7:10 PM start for the rubber game on Wednesday night. The Astros will have Brad Peacock (2-2, 5.28 ERA) on the mound to try and win the rubber match against Jorge Lopez (0-3, 5.09 ERA) for the Royals.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Houston can win series on Sunday

Timely hitting helps Astros edge out D-backs to even series

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

The Astros had two losses over the last 24 hours; one a game against the Diamondbacks in the series opener on Friday night, the other the news that their recovering ace, Justin Verlander, announced Saturday afternoon that he is opting to undergo Tommy John surgery. The decision and surgery will likely sideline Verlander through 2021 when his current contract with Houston ends.

With that, the Astros headwinds continued to increase, meaning a win to even the series with Arizona on Saturday would be a much-needed pick-me-up. Here's how they did:

Final Score: Astros 3, Diamondbacks 2.

Record: 26-26, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Enoli Paredes (3-2, 2.84 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Luke Weaver (1-8, 6.51 ERA).

D-backs score two on Javier who is pulled early

Kole Calhoun, who drove in four runs, including a home run in Friday's game, would start the scoring on Saturday with a solo home run off of Cristian Javier in the top of the second, giving Arizona an early 1-0 lead. Javier allowed another run in the top of the third, giving up a leadoff single that would move to third on a groundout then score on a sac fly, doubling the lead to 2-0.

Javier finished the third and tossed a 1-2-3 fourth, but whether it be due to a pre-determined pitch count or other situation, he would not go any further, ending his night there on just 77 pitches. His final line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 77 P.

Astros grab a lead in the sixth

The Astros were able to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Josh Reddick, who would move to third after a walk and fielder's choice before scoring on an RBI-groundout by Jose Altuve, making it 2-1. Enoli Paredes was first out of Houston's bullpen, taking over for Javier in the top of the fifth and retiring six straight batters for two perfect frames.

Houston would get to Luke Weaver in the bottom of the sixth, getting a leadoff single by George Springer, who would score from first on an RBI-double by Altuve to tie the game. Altuve would come around as the go-ahead run later in the inning on an RBI-single by Kyle Tucker, knocking Weaver out of the game as the Astros took their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Houston evens the series and moves back up to .500

Josh James was the next reliever for Houston in the top of the seventh, and despite getting into a jam by issuing a one-out walk and hitting the next batter, he was able to get out of it. It was thanks to a great play by Michael Brantley, who started a double play by catching a lineout and throwing a runner out at second to end the inning.

Brooks Raley had the eighth and erased a one-out walk by retiring the next two batters to maintain the one-run lead. After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, the Astros turned to closer Ryan Pressly to get another save and finish the one-run game. Pressly would do so, as Houston would move back up to .500 and even the series 1-1 heading into the rubber game on Sunday.

Up Next: The finale of this series between Houston and Arizona, and Houston's last regular-season home game of 2020, will get underway at 1:10 PM Central on Sunday. Madison Bumgarner (0-4, 8.53) ERA will be on the mound for the D-backs, while Jose Urquidy (1-1, 2.70 ERA) will start for the Astros.

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