Astros lose to the Brewers to split the series
Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 4-2 loss
After winning the opener of the two-game series with the Brewers on Labor Day, the Astros looked to make it a mini-sweep with a win on Tuesday night. Here is a recap of the game:
Final Score: Brewers 4, Astros 2.
Record: 90-50, first in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Jordan Lyles (10-8, 4.46 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Zack Greinke (14-5, 3.09 ERA).
1) Springer goes down hard with an injury
The Astros experienced a scary moment in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tracking a ball deep into center field, George Springer lept and made an incredible catch for the final out of the inning.
However, during the catch, he would fall back and hit his head, hard, against the center-field wall, and although he would complete the play, would stay on the ground in obvious pain for quite some time. He was attended to for several minutes before eventually, they would bring the cart out, which he would stand and get into before being taken off the field. Hopefully, Springer was simply shaken up and avoided anything serious.
2) Greinke gets tagged in the third
Zack Greinke had one bad inning on Wednesday, and it came in the third. After allowing just one hit in each of the first two innings, the Brewers were able to back-to-back one-out singles in the bottom of the third before a two-out RBI-single followed by a three-run home run which pushed Milwaukee in front 4-1.
He was able to recover over the next three frames, allowing just two other hits while keeping the Brewers from adding any more runs to their lead. Greinke's final line: 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.
3) Houston unable to mount a comeback
Meanwhile, the Astros had gotten two runs on the board; one in the top of the second on an RBI-single by Josh Reddick which gave them a 1-0 lead at the time, then a solo home run by Alex Bregman in the top of the sixth which made it a two-run game at 4-2.
Starting September strong. #TakeItBackpic.twitter.com/SfxKOMyhpJ
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 4, 2019
With Greinke's night done after six innings of work, Houston turned to their bullpen starting with Chris Devenski in the bottom of the seventh. Devenski was able to erase a two-out double to complete the inning. Cionel Perez made his first appearance since June, having been down in the minors until being brought back up when rosters expanded over the weekend. He started the bottom of the eighth but would allow a leadoff walk before a pinch-hitter caused A.J. Hinch to move to another pitcher.
Joe Biagini was the new pitcher and would get a double play to erase the leadoff walk before getting out of the inning. The Astros were unable to mount a comeback, though, coming up empty late in the game to allow the Brewers to split the two-game series.
Up Next: Houston will travel home for a day off on Wednesday. They'll resume play on Thursday at home with the opener of a four-game series against the Mariners at Minute Maid Park. That game will get underway at 7:10 PM and the expected pitchers are Marco Gonzalez (14-11, 4.30 ERA) for the Mariners going opposite of Wade Miley (13-4, 3.06 ERA) for the Astros.
The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.
