ASTROS REPORT
Let's discuss 3 players that are having career years for the Astros
Sep 13, 2021, 3:30 pm
Kyle Tucker is crushing the baseball for Houston. Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images.
After a tough loss on Saturday, the Astros bounced back to beat the Los Angeles Angels Sunday afternoon 3-1. Houston has won back-to-back series and currently sits 6.5 games ahead of both the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners in the American League West. With 20 games remaining in the regular season, the Astros look to earn their 4th A.L. West title in five years, and make a deep run in the postseason.
Some players received the memo and are fine-tuning their skills as October approaches.
Kyle Tucker has been on fire as of late. Since coming off the injured list on August 24, the outfielder is 25 for 59 with 11 extra-base hits, including three home runs. One of those came on Sunday when Tucker hit the go-ahead homer off José Quijada in the bottom of the 5th inning.
"I've been seeing the ball really well and trying to hit it on the barrel and not chase pitches," Tucker said. "I am just trying to do my job and get on base and score some runs."
The Astros' outfielder is having a career year at the plate and has a slash line of .458/.552/.792 over his last seven games.
Another Astros' player having a great year is Lance McCullers Jr.
As I alluded to in my previous article, McCullers exceeded his career high for wins in a season with his 11th victory over the Mariners on September 6th. He didn't stop there, as the Astros' pitcher earned his 12th win of the season Sunday against the Angels.
In six innings of work, McCullers gave up one run on three hits with seven strikeouts. This is his third consecutive start in which he has allowed three runs or fewer.
"He pitched ahead in the count most of the time, and he used his fastball probably more than he had early in the count to get strike one," Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "He threw some outstanding breaking balls for strike three, and he threw some very good changeups. He had a good tempo going. He wasn't in trouble very much."
Baker will have some tough decisions to make with Houston's playoff rotation, but it can be assured McCullers will either be the ace of this staff, or the number two pitcher behind Zack Greinke once the postseason rolls around.
The final Astros' player having a career year is Yuli Gurriel. The first baseman is hitting .315 and is tied with teammate Michael Brantley for the second best batting average in Major League Baseball.
The 37-year-old slugger had a four-hit game on Sunday against the Angels and drove in the first run of the contest.
Gurriel has been a mainstay in this Astros' lineup all season, and looks to continue to give his team great at-bats in the middle of the order.
Injury Report: Brantley left Saturday's contest against the Angels with right knee soreness and is listed as day-to-day according to Baker. Houston will most likely play him sparingly until the playoffs start, with players such as Aledmys Diaz, Yordan Alvarez and Chas McCormick splitting time in left field.
The Astros will look to get both catcher Jason Castro and infielder Taylor Jones back soon, as both players are set to make rehab stints in Sugar Land this week.
Up Next: Houston starts a four-game series in Arlington against the Rangers for the final time this season. Jake Odorizzi (6-7) has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last four outings will take the mound Monday night against Spencer Howard (0-3).
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C.J. Stroud threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns, capped by a 1-yard pass to Dare Ogunbowale with 18 seconds left, to give the Houston Texans a 24-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Houston forced a three-and-out to get the ball back with less than three minutes to go.
Stroud then led a nine-play, 69-yard drive to give the Texans (3-1) their first points of the second half and survive a scare by the winless Jaguars (0-4).
The Texans bounced back from a 34-7 rout at Minnesota to get the victory despite fumbling a punt return early and committing 12 penalties to give them 35 combined in their past three games.
Nico Collins helped Houston to the win with 12 receptions for 151 yards and a TD for his third 100-yard game this season.
Trevor Lawrence threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns as his streak of consecutive starts without a win stretched to nine games.
The Jaguars fell to 0-4 for the first time since opening the 2021 season with five straight losses.
After getting blown out by the Bills on Monday, they had plenty of chances in this one. They led through much of the second half after a touchdown reception by Christian Kirk with about six minutes left in the third.
They had a chance to pad the lead after that when a 58-yard run by Tank Bigsby got them to the Houston 4. Two runs by Bigsby moved them to the 2 before an incomplete pass by Lawrence.
Jacksonville went for it, but Lawrence was stopped for no gain on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Ogunbowale grabbed a short pass and evaded three defenders for a 31-yard gain on third-and-18 on Houston’s next drive.
But the Texans couldn’t do anything after that. They had a run for no gain, a holding penalty on left tackle Laremy Tunsil and an incomplete pass before Stroud was sacked to force a punt.
Derek Stingley knocked down Lawrence’s pass to force a punt with about six minutes left.
The Texans couldn’t get anything going on their next drive that ended with a holding penalty on Tunsil followed by two incomplete passes.
Kirk put the Jaguars up 20-17 with an 8-yard TD grab with about six minutes left in the third quarter. Brian Thomas powered that drive with a 32-yard reception and a 13-yard run.
The Texans forced a punt on Jacksonville’s opening drive, but Steven Sims fumbled it, and it was recovered by Daniel Thomas at the 2. Lawrence connected with Brian Thomas Jr. on the next play to give the Jaguars an early lead.
Houston tied it when Stefon Diggs scored his first career rushing touchdown on a 6-yard run with about 7½ minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Jaguars were up 10-7 after a field goal before a 3-yard touchdown reception by Collins put Houston on top 14-10.
Jacksonville added a 52-yard field goal with about four minutes left in the second quarter to cut the lead to 14-13.
The Texans led 17-13 at halftime after a 30-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn with 3 seconds left in the second quarter.
Be sure to watch the video above as the crew from Texans on Tap reacts live to the win!
Injuries
Jaguars: DE Josh Hines-Allen left the game in the fourth quarter to be evaluated for a concussion.
Texans: RBs Joe Mixon (ankle) and Dameon Pierce (hamstring) sat out with injuries. … Tank Dell missed the game with hand and rib injuries.
Up next
Jaguars: Host the Colts next Sunday.
Texans: Host the Bills next Sunday.