Justin Verlander throws a no-hitter

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 2 hits from the 2-0 win

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 2 hits from the 2-0 win
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

With Toronto taking the middle game on Saturday, Houston looked to get back in the win column and take the series win with a victory on Sunday. Here is a recap of the series finale against the Blue Jays which started the final month of the regular season:

Final Score: Astros 2, Blue Jays 0.

Record: 89-49, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Justin Verlander (17-5, 2.56 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Ken Giles (2-3, 2.05 ERA).

1) Verlander throws third career no-hitter

While the Blue Jays pieced together a quality bullpen day which kept the Astros' offense in check, it was Justin Verlander shutting down Toronto on the other side. Verlander was effective and efficient, working his way to another double-digit strikeout start after seven innings while throwing 93 pitches.

He added three more in the bottom of the eighth, striking out the side in order, keeping the Blue Jays without a hit and sending the scoreless game to the ninth. After his offense scored two runs in the top of the ninth, Verlander returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth to finish things off.

He would do so, recording another 1-2-3 inning and completing his third career no-hitter. Verlander's final line: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K, 0 HR.

2) Toro comes through in the ninth

Meanwhile, Houston's offense was not able to string together enough offense to score any runs through the first eight innings. With their pitcher at thirteen strikeouts and no hits through eight, Houston was desperate to back Verlander up with a run to try and complete a historic day.

Alex Bregman led the top of the ninth off with a double and would move to second on a one-out fly out, then scored on a two-run home run by Abraham Toro off of former-Astros Ken Giles to score the first two runs of the game and finally give Verlander some run support. Those two runs were the difference, lifting Houston over Toronto to take the series win.

 

Up Next: The Astros will take a short trip to Milwaukee for a quick two-game series starting Monday with a Labor Day matchup with the Brewers at 3:00 PM. The Astros will have Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.85 ERA) on the mound going against Adrian Houser (6-5, 3.52 ERA) for the Brewers.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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