Surging Astros find critical answers for postseason march, still searching in other areas
IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE!
19 August
Starting pitching is leading the way for Houston.Composite Getty Image.
The Houston Astros are on a roll, winning nine of their last ten and now leading the AL West by four games.
One of the biggest reasons for their recent success has been dominant starting pitching, especially from Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown.
And don't look now, Justin Verlander is set to return to the club on Wednesday, starting the series finale against the Red Sox.
The vibes are certainly good in Houston right now, but there are some areas of concern. The Astros are about to be tested with a brutal stretch on the schedule beginning this week.
The club has upcoming series against the Red Sox, Orioles, Phillies, Royals, and D-Backs. Certainly the pitching has been great, but the 'Stros will have to get the bats going to compete with some of the top offenses in baseball.
The bottom half of the lineup has struggled to get anything going, that's why we've seen the so many minor league prospects elevated to the big league club. Manager Joe Espada is looking for a spark, but it's just not happening.
Outside of Yordan Alvarez, the lack of offensive production from the outfield can't be overstated. This team misses Kyle Tucker, and he's' not a lock to return anytime soon.
The infield is also struggling, with Alex Bregman missing time with an arm injury and Zach Dezenzo going four straight games without a hit after his big home run at Fenway.
With three right-handed pitchers starting for Boston this week, don't be surprised if we see Jon Singleton get more opportunities at first base. Yainer Diaz is starting at first Monday night, so maybe we see him more at first base in the coming days.
Power outage
Bleacher Report posted an article recently about the “biggest red flags” for every team. For Houston, Jose Altuve has seen a big dropoff in power after the first 80 games of the season.
Altuve “slugged .473 through his first 80 games, but since then he has only seven extra-base hits and a .353 slugging percentage.”
Altuve hit a home run on Sunday to give the bullpen some breathing room, but the falloff in his slugging percentage is real. Is he dealing with a nagging injury, or is he showing fatigue from playing so many games at 34 years old? Our guess is the latter, but it's hard to know for sure.
Be sure to watch the video above for the full discussion!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Dylan Cease pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth for the San Diego Padres, who beat the AL West-leading Houston Astros 4-0 on Wednesday.
Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed two games ahead of Arizona for the first NL wild card. The Astros came in with a five-game division lead over Seattle.
Cease (14-11), who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve's grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.
Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.
Cease struck out five and walked none. Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save.
Machado, who has 29 homers, lined a shot to left-center off Framber Valdez opening the sixth.
Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit reliever Kaleb Ort's first pitch into the first row in left-center leading off the eighth. It was his 19th. Machado followed with a shot deep into the seats in left and Solano hit a liner to left, his seventh. That was it for Ort, who threw just nine pitches.
Valdez (14-7) went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 1B/DH Luis Arraez got the day off to rest his sore left knee, which he jammed into home plate while being thrown out on Monday night. Arraez started at DH on Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (9-9, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels, who will go with LHP José Suarez (1-2, 6.80).
Padres: Hadn't announced their starter for Friday night's home series opener against the Chicago White Sox.
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