The regular season is in the books

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 8-5 win

Astros Daily Report
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

With the best record in the league already locked up with the win on Saturday, the Astros went into the 162nd and final game of the 2019 regular season with a chance to get one last tune-up and add to some individual numbers and records. Here is a rundown of the final game before the postseason:

Final Score: Astros 8, Angels 5.

Record: 107-55, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Gerrit Cole (20-5, 2.50 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Dillon Peters (4-4, 5.38 ERA).

1) Houston's main bats finish strong

In their last chance to add some hits and RBIs to their final regular-season stat lines, the Astros' bats took advantage. Right away in the top of the first, George Springer led off the game with a single, then scored on an RBI-double by Jose Altuve to put Houston ahead 1-0.

Springer would go on to go 4-for-4 on the day with two RBIs including a solo home run in the second. Aledmys Diaz also hit a solo home run that inning, then in the top of the third Yuli Gurriel launched a two-run blast to extend the lead to 5-0. In the fourth, they added three more including Springer's other RBI, a double, along with an RBI-double for Michael Brantley and RBI-single for Alex Bregman. Bregman would go 1-for-1 with that RBI and two walks.

2) Cole gets his 20th win and ninth-straight 10+ strikeout start

Gerrit Cole once again had to take the mound the day after Justin Verlander set some historical marks and reached incredible milestones. Cole didn't shy away from getting his own, though, tossing a great game himself.

He allowed one run, a solo home run in the bottom of the third which made it a 5-1 game at the time. He also faced trouble in the fourth, loading the bases with one out after a single, hit batter, and walk, but would fight back with two strikeouts to end the inning. He would come out for one more inning, seeking two more Ks to reach ten on the day.

He would do so, striking out the last batter he would face in the 2019 regular season to reach ten on the day, doing so for the ninth-straight start, a feat no other pitcher has ever done. The five innings of one-run baseball also lowered his ERA to 2.50, further making it a difficult decision to vote between him and Justin Verlander for the Cy Young. Cole's final line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 HR.

3) Houston finishes with a win

That set up four innings for the bullpen to cover, starting with Brad Peacock in the bottom of the sixth. Peacock wouldn't have the cleanest inning, getting just two outs while allowing a two-run home run to cut the lead to 8-3. Bryan Abreu would get the final out of the sixth then return for the seventh, a 1-2-3 inning to hold the five-run lead.

Joe Smith took over for the bottom of the eighth but allowed two RBI-doubles to cut Houston's lead down to 8-5 before Chris Devenski would be brought in for the final out of the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Devenski remained in the game and recorded the first two outs before the final pitching change to bring in Will Harris who would get the final out of game 162.

Up Next: The regular season is now behind the Astros. In front of them, eleven wins needed to lift the Commissioner's Trophy for the second time in three years. Their first playoff game will be ALDS Game 1 on Friday, time TBD but likely in the afternoon, and opponent not yet determined as the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A's in Wednesday's Wild Card game will travel to Houston to face the Astros in Game 1.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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The Tigers beat the Astros, 7-4. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.

Javy Báez capped a five-run third inning with his ninth career grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers avoided a series sweep by beating the Houston Astros 7-4 on Wednesday.

Baez’s two-out homer off AJ Blubaugh (0-1), a 24-year-old right-hander making his major league debut, put the Tigers ahead 7-1. All five runs were unearned due to shortstop Jeremy Peña throwing error on Kerry Carpenter's grounder.

Riley Greene tied his career high with four hits.

Brenan Hanifee (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jackson Jobe, who allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in three innings. Detroit has won five of seven and nine of 13.

Blubaugh (0-1) struck out two in a 1-2-3 first and gave up seven runs — two earned — and five hits in four innings with six strikeouts and a walk.

Blubaugh was optioned back to Sugar Land after the game.

Peña hit the first career leadoff home run, the first of his three hits, but Colt Keith hit a two-run homer in the second to put Detroit ahead for good.

Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the fifth and Victor Caratini homered in the seventh against Tyler Holton.

Holton struck out Yainer Diaz to strand two runners in the seventh and Tommy Kahnle struck out Christian Walker to leave two runners on in the eighth.

Houston went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners.

Key moment

Báez drove a high sweeper over the left-field scoreboard.

Key stat

Houston allowed five unearned runs in the third inning after giving up three in its first 29 games.

Up next

Astros: LHP Framber Valdez (1-3 4.00 ERA) opens a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.

Tigers: RHP Casey Mize (4-1 2.12 ERA) opens a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels and LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-4, 4.31) on Thursday night.

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