Houston starts the second half strong
Astros exit All-Star break with dominant win over White Sox
Jul 16, 2021, 10:21 pm
Houston starts the second half strong
Houston's offense came out of the All-Star break firing on all cylinders.
After an incredibly exciting end to the first half of the season with the magical walk-off win over the Yankees in Houston, the Astros started their first series out of the All-Star break in Chicago to face the White Sox. Despite falling behind a run in the first inning, the rest of the game was dominated by Houston as they would pick up the win.
Final Score: Astros 7, White Sox 1
Astros' Record: 56-36, first in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Lance McCullers Jr. (7-2)
Losing Pitcher: Dylan Cease (7-5)
Lance McCullers Jr.'s night started about as bad as it could have, with his first two pitches getting turned around for a leadoff triple and RBI double, giving the White Sox a 1-0 lead. He rebounded quickly and effectively, sitting down the next three batters to end that inning, then erased one walk each in the second and third. The walk in the third would be the last batter to reach base against him, as he would go on to retire thirteen in a row to get through seven innings of one-run baseball while notching a season-high ten strikeouts. His final line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 94 P.
After the early run by Chicago, the Astros turned the offensive momentum to their favor in the top of the third. They loaded the bases with two outs, setting up Yuli Gurriel for a two-RBI double to go in front 2-1. Michael Brantley doubled the lead to two runs in the top of the fifth, sneaking a solo homer just inside the foul pole with two outs, making it 3-1.
They then blew it open in the top of the seventh against the White Sox bullpen, getting runners on second and third with two outs before Kyle Tucker would bring in a run on an infield single, his 50th RBI of the year. After Abraham Toro loaded the bases by being hit by a pitch, Myles Straw plated all three runners with a bases-clearing double, pushing the lead to 7-1.
Myles Straw everybody đ#ForTheHÂ pic.twitter.com/md7p8xo1hw
â Houston Astros (@astros) July 17, 2021
Bryan Abreu took over on the mound out of the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. He, like McCullers Jr. before him, kept Chicago off the bases with a 1-2-3 inning on three groundouts. That left the ninth for Andre Scrubb, and despite allowing a leadoff single, was able to erase it to wrap up the dominant six-run win for the Astros to come out of the All-Star break with a win.
Up Next: The middle game of this series will start at 6:15 PM Central on Saturday. Chicago will send Lucas Giolito (7-6, 4.15 ERA) to the mound, and Houston will counter with Jake Odorizzi (3-4, 3.61 ERA).
Major League Baseballâs regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, itâs far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last yearâs 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astrosâ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as theyâve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but itâs not like either of them has been outstanding. Itâs still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldnât have done much worse to this point. Diaz isnât hitting Altuveâs weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. Heâs drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock marketâs performance in Tariff Time. Walkerâs .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walkerâs23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. He has often looked befuddled in the batter's box. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but heâs obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astrosâ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold âStros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a teamâs best offensive inning. Itâs the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. Itâs not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboysâ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astrosâ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astrosâ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astrosâ 2022 run to World Series title number two. âLa Pinaâ is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold âStros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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