Houston's first loss of the postseason
Oakland forces Game 4 by outslugging Astros in ALDS Game 3
Oct 7, 2020, 6:15 pm
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Jose Urquidy exiting after allowing four solo home runs to Oakland
Undefeated thus far in the postseason, including the first two games of this best-of-five ALDS, the Astros could sweep the Oakland A's and advance to the ALCS for their fourth-straight year with a win in Game 3. Here is how the game unfolded Wednesday:
Final Score: A's 9, Astros 7.
Series: HOU leads 2-1.
Winning Pitcher: Liam Hendriks.
Losing Pitcher: Brooks Raley.
Teams trade early runs before A's homer their way to a lead
Oakland came out swinging in a must-win game against Jose Urquidy and would get on the board first as they switched to being the visitor team at Dodger Stadium. It came via a one-out solo home run by Tommy La Stella in the top of the first, netting the A's a quick 1-0 lead.
'Tuve tied it. #ALDS pic.twitter.com/4LREIO4fNb
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2020
Houston responded right away in the bottom of the first, getting a one-out solo homer of their own by Jose Altuve to tie the game. They then took their first lead, getting an RBI-groundout by Carlos Correa to score Michael Brantley, who singled then moved to third on an Alex Bregman single.
Oakland would continue to pepper the scoreboard with solo home runs against Urquidy, though, with one in the top of the second, fourth, and fifth innings to regain the lead at 4-2, and chasing him out of the game in the fifth. His final line: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4 HR, 79 P.
Houston scores five in the fifth, A's tie it up again
After Blake Taylor would load the bases but strand them to finish the top of the fifth for Urquidy, the Astros went to work in the bottom half. They would put together a five-run bottom of the fifth, starting with a two-run homer by Aledmys Diaz to tie the game, followed by RBI hits for Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, and Kyle Tucker, pushing the Astros in front 7-4.
A 4-run 5th #ForTheH and the @Astros are back on top. #ALDS pic.twitter.com/JFJaMejpXo
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2020
Josh James was next out of Houston's bullpen for the top of the sixth and would erase a leadoff walk to keep the three-run lead. He returned for the top of the seventh, but the top of Oakland's order would knock him out with back-to-back singles to start the inning to set up a game-tying three-run homer by Chad Pinder to make it 7-7.
Oakland forces Game 4
Brooks Raley took over for James, getting the next three A's out in order, ending the half-inning. Like James before him, Raley would return to try and go another inning but would get tagged by Oakland, who would get two sac flies in the inning to go in front 9-7.
Houston would get the first two batters aboard in the bottom of the eighth but would strand both as Oakland retired the next three batters. Andre Scrubb was able to keep it a two-run game with a scoreless top of the ninth, but Liam Hendriks would complete his third inning of work for Oakland and finish off the win for the A's to force a Game 4.
Up Next: ALDS Game 4 will start at 2:35 PM Central on Thursday. The Astros will remain the home team for another game, with Oakland batting first as the visitors. The starting pitchers have not yet been announced.
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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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