Houston evens the series
Brantley's early homer lifts Astros over Rangers in pitcher's duel
Sep 2, 2020, 9:39 pm
Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images
Astros Michael Brantley
After a sloppy, uncharacteristic loss in the series opener, the Astros welcomed the Rangers back to Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night to try and even the series and get back in the win column. Here is how the game went:
Final Score: Astros 2, Rangers 1.
Record: 20-15, second in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Cristian Javier (4-1, 3.35 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Kolby Allard (0-4, 5.40 ERA).
Brantley gives Javier a lead to work with
Michael Brantley and the Astros did not wait around to get a big hit in Wednesday's game. In the bottom of the first, George Springer started Houston's night at the plate with a walk, setting up a two-run home run for Brantley, making it back-to-back games with a homer, giving Houston a 2-0 lead.
Professional hitter on display. #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/BQxoIoikMv
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 3, 2020
That provided Cristian Javier with a lead to work with, and he would maintain it well. After three perfect innings, the Rangers would get their first hit and run of the night on a solo home run that snuck into the Crawford Boxes in the top of the fourth, making it a 2-1 game.
Javier rebounded well from that, allowing just one more hit while nearly completing seven innings of one-run baseball. His final line: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 93 P.
Astros hold on to the lead to even the series
Brooks Raley would relieve Javier to complete the seventh, striking out the one batter he would face. Enoli Paredes was next out of Houston's bullpen to toss the top of the eighth and worked around a one-out single thanks to an inning-ending caught stealing by Martin Maldonado to keep it a one-run Houston lead.
Houston threatened to add insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth but would strand two runners to keep it 2-1 heading to the ninth. That set up Ryan Pressly for another save opportunity, and unlike the night before, would convert it to give the Astros the win and even the series.
Up Next: The finale of this three-game series will be an afternoon game at 1:10 PM Central on Thursday. It shapes up to be an exciting pitching matchup with Lance Lynn (4-1, 1.93 ERA) getting the start for the Rangers facing off against Zack Greinke (2-0, 2.68 ERA) for the Astros.
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Now that spring training is officially underway, we're able to make some observations about how the Astros 2025 roster is taking shape.
Houston's starting rotation is basically set, but we got to see Hayden Wesneski make his first start in an Astro uniform. Wesneski pitched two innings against the Mets on Tuesday, allowing one run with three strikeouts.
He's working on a curveball that's a new pitch for his repertoire, and he saw some success with it. Hopefully, adding this pitch will help keep batters off balance (especially left-handed hitters) and help elevate his game. Which is nothing new for the Astros, who have a history of helping pitchers get to the next level.
Forrest Whitley also looked good, pitching a clean inning and finishing off his final hitter with a 97 mph fastball. Whitley finally realizing his potential in the big leagues could be a huge deal for the Astros, as they're looking to lighten the workload for Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader this season.
Hader in particular could benefit from this adjustment, as he was much worse when pitching in non-save situations last season. An easy fix with Hader could be trying to limit his workload to mostly save situations. That way, you get the most out of him and achieve the goal of him pitching less innings this year.
The Houston Chronicle's Matt Kawahara wrote about Hader's struggles pitching when games were tied or Houston was trailing.
“Hader converted 34 of 38 save chances but faced more batters in non-save situations (142) than in save situations (136), a sharp pivot from his previous few seasons. Opponents slugged .271 against him in save situations and .411 in non-save situations, while his ERA was more than two runs higher (4.98) in the latter.”
And while it's easy to say “suck it up, you're getting paid a fortune to pitch,” if he's not having success in those situations, and you're looking to back off his workload, this seems like an obvious way to pivot. He's under contract for another four seasons, so the Astros are right to want to be careful with him.
Astros plate discipline
Manager Joe Espada has made it very clear that he would like his offense to see more pitches this season. And we're seeing a stark difference in the approaches from the newly acquired players (Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker) and Houston's returning hitters.
Keep in mind, Paredes was first in pitches per plate appearance last season, and Walker was 10th.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Paredes and Walker both worked a full count in their first at-bats on Tuesday, while Mauricio Dubon, Yainer Diaz, and Chas McCormick swung at every pitch in their first at-bats.
Hopefully the new blood in the clubhouse will rub off on the rest of the Astros lineup, which is full of free swingers, especially with Alex Bregman now playing for Boston.
Which is why we're so excited about Cam Smith's early results. While we're super pumped about his two home runs on Tuesday, we're equally impressed that he walked in his first two at-bats this spring. If anyone would naturally be jumping out of their shoes to make a strong first impression, you would think it's the guy that was traded for Kyle Tucker. But Smith was patient, and he was rewarded for it.
What is Dana Brown saying privately?
Just last offseason, Brown was talking about extending Tucker and Bregman while also signing Hader to a shocking 5-year, $95 million deal. Plus, the team signed Jose Altuve to a whopping $150 million extension. Fast-forward one year and Tucker has been traded, Bregman left in free agency, and Ryan Pressly was dealt in a salary dump. Safe to say, his vision for the ball club has changed drastically in one season. Welcome to baseball economics under Jim Crane!
We're just scratching the surface on everything covered in the video above. Be sure to hit play to watch the full conversation!
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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