Houston's pitching had a rough night

Padres overpower Astros to even up series

Astros' Framber Valdez
Framber Valdez had one rough inning in an otherwise strong start in Saturday's game against the Padres. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Framber Valdez had one rough inning in an otherwise strong start in Saturday's game against the Padres.

With a late go-ahead inning to take the opener on Friday, the Astros tried to get an impressive series victory with a win on Saturday in San Diego. The Padres denied that, though, by outslugging Houston to take the game.

Final Score: Padres 10, Astros 2

Astros' Record: 79-56, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Joe Musgrove (10-8)

Losing Pitcher: Framber Valdez (9-5)

Astros strike first, Padres respond against Valdez

After scoring the final runs of Friday night's opener, Houston's offense started the scoring in Saturday's middle game. With two outs in the top of the first, they strung together three straight singles, the third an RBI by Yuli Gurriel to put the Astros in front 1-0. Kyle Tucker doubled the lead in the top of the second, blasting a leadoff homer to make it back-to-back at-bats with homers.

San Diego responded by taking over the offensive momentum in the bottom of the inning, tagging Framber Valdez with four runs on four hits and a balk, putting Houston behind 4-2. Valdez rebounded well from that rough inning, getting through six innings and not allowing any more runs after the second. His final line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 92 P.

Padres keep scoring to even up the series

Cristian Javier took over for Valdez in the bottom of the seventh, a rough inning for him. He allowed a leadoff walk, which turned into a two-run homer by Manny Machado. He followed that with another walk, and with two outs, watched that turn into another two-run blast, extending San Diego's lead to 8-2.

After another scoreless inning by Houston's offense in the top of the eighth, Josh James took over out of the bullpen, making his 2021 debut in return from injury. He would also deal with the damage of a walk, allowing one to set up a two-out two-run homer to extend the Padres' lead to 10-2. That score would go final, with the Astros going down scoreless again in the top of the ninth, evening up the series 1-1 to set up a rubber game.

Up Next: The finale of this series will begin at 3:10 PM Central on Sunday. Luis Garcia (10-6, 3.23 ERA) will be on the mound for Houston, going opposite Chris Paddack (7-6, 4.98 ERA) for San Diego.

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Is leadership the main problem for Houston? Composite Getty Image.

With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.

While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.

Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.

And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.

The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.

It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.

Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.

The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.

They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.

Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.

Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?

As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.

The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?

Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!

Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.

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