Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 4 hits from the 11-4 Win

Jose Partida
May 11, 2019, 9:30 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

The Astros came into the third game of this series looking for a series win. Here's a quick rundown and four points from the game:

Final Score: Astros 11, Rangers 4

Record: 25-15, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Gerrit Cole (4-4, 3.88 ERA)

Losing pitcher: Drew Smyly (0-3, 6.85 ERA)


1. The Cole Train ran on full steam

Gerrit Cole pitched his worst start this season against the Texas Rangers. In fact, he entered tonight's game 0-2 with a 9.58 ERA in his two starts against them this season. Despite giving a line drive HR to Hunter Pence, Cole struck out FIVE in the first two innings. He struck out two more in the third. Cole was challenged in the fourth, but back to back strike outs to Gallo and Pence got him out of the inning stranding Santana at third. For those keeping score, Cole had nine strike outs through four. Odor and Guzman were victims to Cole's strike out in the fifth. With runners on third and second, Cole got Gallos looking with a 100 mile an hour fast ball to end the inning and earn his twelfth strike out of the night. He tied Brad Peacock for the most strike outs by a starter this season with twelve.


2. Aledmys Diaz with his biggest moment as an Astro

In the sixth inning, in a on run game, Aledmys Diaz answered the call for the offense. With two outs, Diaz hit a Grand Slam to the Crawford Boxes. The bottom of the order was what got the Astros the win last night with three solo HRs. The bottom of the order, tonight, set themselves up for the nine hole hitter to bring them all home in the biggest moment in his Astro tenure.


3. Devo makes things interesting before the Bullpen settles things down

After a shut down start from Cole and a gushing Grand Slam from Diaz, Chris Devenski entered the seventh striking out Hunter Pence. He then gave up singles to Odor and Cabrera before Guzman hit a bomb to the upper deck in right field to cut the Astros lead to 6-4. Hector Rondon would get the last out of the inning striking out Santana. Josh James entered the 8th with a five run cushion and got out of the inning with two strike outs. James would get two more strike outs in the 9th to rack up a total of four, 18 as a staff for the night.


4. The two out magic was in full effect

What did Josh Reddick's RBI single, Aledmys Diaz' Grand Slam, Tyler White's RBI single, Robinson Chirinos' two RBI single, Carlos Correa's RBI single, and Yuli Gurriel's RBI single have in common? Well, aside from obviously putting points on the board, they were all runs scored when the Astros were at bat with two outs. 10 of the Astros' 11 runs came with two outs.


Up Next: Nothing better than a Sunday day game at Minute Maid Park. A 1:00 start on Mothers Day. The Astros will look to sweep the series as Corbin Martin makes his Major League debut. He was 1-1 with a 1.48 ERA in five games for Triple A Round Rock. The Rangers will counter with Adrian Sampson (0-2, 4.41 ERA)

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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FALCON POINTS

Is another Houston star about to be shown the door?

Correa could be on his way out. Composite image by Jack Brame.

Editor's note: Ken Rosenthal updated his column on Tuesday afternoon.


It has not been the best of times to be a star athlete in Houston. In the last year, Jadeveon Clowney and DeAndre Hopkins were solid off for a warm bucket of spit. George Springer won't be back. James Harden and Russell Westbrook rumors are rampant. J.J. Watt might be moving on as well.

Now, reports are the Astros are listening to offers for Carlos Correa.

Predictably, Astros fans are livid. And if it's true, they should be concerned about the bigger picture.

Trading Correa makes sense - if you have no plans on keeping him after next season, as was clearly the case with Springer. If the Astros can get a haul and replenish the farm system, it would be the right move, especially considering Correa's injury history.

But in the long run, it does not bode well for the direction of the team. All recent indications are that the Astros are going cheap.

They would still be a competitive team without Correa, but it would be yet another indication their World Series window has closed. Alex Bregman could slide over to shortstop, but who would play third? And they only have one starting outfielder on the roster as it is. Putting together a competitive lineup around Bregman, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Yuli Gurriel and Yordan Alvarez would still be possible, but if the Astros aren't going to spend money, that could be problematic.

The writing was probably on the wall when the team hired James Click as GM from the notoriously frugal Tampa Bay organization. The good news is the Rays have been successful. But this is a new direction for a team that was not afraid to spend big money to make runs at the World Series.

If they lose Correa, they lose a team leader, one of the few players who embraced the villain role in the wake of the cheating controversy and was not afraid to speak out. But he has never lived up to his MVP potential, has battled injuries and will command big dollars on the open market. He is still young enough to become that kind of player, and someone will gamble big money that he will.

Sadly, if this rumor is true, it won't be the Astros.

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