Astros unable to finish it in Game 6

Astros playoff report presented by APG&E: Houston dominated by Stephen Strasburg as World Series heads to a decisive Game 7

Jose Altuve
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Jose Altuve and Houston's offense were unable to crack Stephen Strasburg in Game 6

After dominating in D.C. to take all three games on the road to take a 3-2 lead in the series, the Astros returned home to try and finish the series in front of their home crowd with Justin Verlander on the mound. Once again, though, the road team would come out ahead as the Nationals would get the better of Houston's pitching, winning 7-2 and forcing a Game 7. Here is a recap of the game:

Final Score: Nationals 7, Astros 2.

Series: tied 3-3.

Winning Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg.

Losing Pitcher: Justin Verlander.

Nationals score first, but Springer and Bregman respond

It was the Nationals who would strike first in Game 6, getting a leadoff single, moving the runner over on a sacrifice, then getting an RBI-single by Anthony Rendon to put Houston down 1-0 in the top of the first. The Astros fought back immediately, starting with a leadoff double by George Springer.

He moved to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Altuve, tying the game 1-1. After a strikeout by Michael Brantley on a questionable called third strike, Alex Bregman gave Houston their first lead of the night by crushing a solo home run to the Crawford Boxes, making it a 2-1 Houston advantage.

World Series drought for Verlander continues

The 2-1 lead held through the early goings of the game, with both Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg settling in. Verlander, however, was dealing with long innings that had his pitch count rising and leading him to an early exit. He entered the top of the fifth inning already at 75 pitches, and the Nationals would take advantage.

Washington would get two solo home runs against him in the inning, first a one-out shot by Adam Eaton that tied the game, then a go-ahead moonshot by Juan Soto into the upper deck that gave the Nationals the lead back at 3-2. Verlander would finish the inning, but that would be it for him in this World Series, and leaving down a run would mean he would have to wait at least one more year to get his first win in a World Series start. His final line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HR.

Washington extends their lead after a controversial play

It was Brad Peacock taking over for Verlander starting in the top of the sixth, and he would get a quick inning before returning in the seventh. He would allow a leadoff single, then after a very controversial play where Trea Turner was called out at first by interference while running to the bag. Instead of runners on second and third with no outs, it was instead a runner on first with one out.

Will Harris would come in to try and get through the inning and continue his incredible stretch of playoff dominance but instead would get tagged with a two-run home run by Anthony Rendon to extend Washington's lead to 5-2 before he would get through it. Ryan Pressly was next out of the bullpen for the top of the eighth and retired the Nationals in order.

One more game to decide it all

Unlike Verlander, who exited after five innings and a high pitch count, Stephen Strasburg was making quick work of the Astros, which allowed him to stay in the game to start the bottom of the eighth. He would get through that inning as well, sending the 5-2 game to the ninth.

Chris Devenski would pitch in the top half, but he too would suffer runs as Anthony Rendon notched more RBIs with a two-RBI double to blow the game open at 7-2. That would be the final score after Strasburg would get one more out before Sean Doolittle would come in to get the final two outs.

Up Next: One last game. World Series Game 7 will be Wednesday and start at 7:08 PM Central. After being scratched from Game 5, Max Scherzer appears healthy again and will be called on by Washington to start for the Nationals. Houstons has not yet named their starter, but the likely candidate will be Zack Greinke.

The Astros playoff report is presented by APG&E.

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The Astros have their work cut out for them. Composite Getty Image.

Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.

Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.

Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.

“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.

First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.

“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”

Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.

Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.

However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.

“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”

The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.

“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”

Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.

He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.

He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.

Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.

While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.

To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.

Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.

“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”

Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.

Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.

“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.

The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.

“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”

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