DEMOTED
Astros send former closer Ken Giles to minors after poor effort, outburst
SportsMap Staff
Jul 11, 2018, 3:37 pm
Ken Giles is headed to the minors. Al Bello/Getty Images
Ken Giles nearly blew a save Tuesday night. Then he blew a gasket.
Then on Wednesday the Astros blew him out of the water.
Giles was sent down to Triple-A Fresno, one day after giving up three straight singles to the Oakland Athletics. He was pulled by manager A.J. Hinch and appeared to utter an obscenity as he stormed off the mound.
Giles has been a poster boy of inconsistency all season. He has an 0-2 record and 4.99 ERA in 34 appearances. But he also has 31 strikeouts and 12 saves.
"We need to get him right," Hinch told multiple reporters before Wednesday's game. "He’s not right. We need to get him right mentally and physically.”
Reportedly he has groused about his role with the team, and Tuesday night's outburst was enough to bring about change. Cionel Perez was called up to take his spot on the roster. Perez was called up briefly recently but did not get in a game.
Perez, a lefty, was 6-1 at Corpus Christi with a 1.98 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 68.1 innings.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.