ASTROS REPORT
Slumps, injuries, and plain bad luck surround Astros in disappointing week
Jul 1, 2018, 11:05 pm
Justin Verlander is struggling. Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
Houston had another set of games against weaker opponents this week with a full seven-game slate of winnable games. Unfortunately, it did not end with a good result. Here's why:
Monday, June 25th: 36-41 Blue Jays (J.A. Happ) vs. 52-27 Astros (Justin Verlander)
The week started on Monday night with the beginning of a rough week for Justin Verlander. Verlander allowed two runs in the top of the first on two hits and a walk, giving Toronto an early 2-0 lead. Yuli Gurriel continued his hot streak to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single, then Alex Bregman tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the third, making it 2-2. Bregman struck again in the fourth, getting an RBI single to give Houston their first lead at 3-2. Unfortunately, Curtis Granderson for Toronto got the best of Verlander twice with solo homers in the fifth and seventh innings, ending Justin's night at six and two-third innings pitched with four earned runs and giving the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead. Toronto got another homer against Will Harris in the eighth, this time a two-run shot to extend their lead to 6-3, which held to the end despite a rally by Houston in the bottom of the ninth to get runners on second and third. In addition to losing the game, this would also be Carlos Correa's last game for a while as he would miss the next couple of games with back discomfort before landing on the DL.
Final Score: Blue Jays 6, Astros 3
Tuesday, June 26th: 37-41 Blue Jays (Ryan Borucki) vs. 52-28 Astros (Charlie Morton)
Charlie Morton had a terrific start on Tuesday night to help Houston bounce back from the loss the night before. Morton kept the Blue Jays without a hit through the first four innings and worked around four hits in innings five through seven to finish with a dominant seven innings pitched, four hits, zero runs, and thirteen strikeouts. That earned him the win as the Astros started the scoring in the fifth with a two-RBI single by Evan Gattis then tacked on five more in the eighth with a three-run home run by Jake Marisnick and a two-run homer by Alex Bregman. After Morton, Chris Devenski pitched a perfect eighth before Hector Rondon closed things out to complete the lopsided shutout win.
Final Score: Blue Jays 0, Astros 7
Wednesday, June 27th: 37-41 Blue Jays (Marco Estrada) vs. 53-28 Astros (Dallas Keuchel)
In stark contrast to Morton's brilliant start the night before, Wednesday afternoon saw a horrible beginning to a start by Dallas Keuchel. The Blue Jays avenged their shutout the night before by ambushing Keuchel with five runs on four hits in the top of the first, putting Houston in a huge hole. The Astros had a strong first inning of their own, quickly trimming the lead down to 5-3 with a two-RBI double from Evan Gattis and an RBI single by Josh Reddick. Gattis added to his crazy RBI total in June again with another RBI double in the fifth, making it just a one-run lead for Toronto. To Kuechel's credit, he did lock in after the disastrous first inning getting through the next four innings with just one hit. He faltered again in the sixth, however, loading the bases before an error scored a run to make it 6-4. Marwin Gonzalez made it a one-run game yet again with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Astros a chance to tie or win the game in the ninth thanks to strong bullpen work from Brad Peacock, who came in to finish the sixth and pitched the seventh, Ken Giles in the eighth, and Will Harris in the ninth who kept the Blue Jays from adding any more runs. Tony Kemp led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to put the tying run on base, but instead of tying Alex Bregman played the hero with a two-run walk-off home run to complete the comeback to steal the series.
Final Score: Blue Jays 6, Astros 7
Thursday, June 28th: 54-28 Astros (Lance McCullers Jr.) vs. 39-40 Rays (Ryne Stanek)
Tampa Bay deployed their unique strategy of starting the game with a reliever on Thursday night, with Ryne Stanek taking the mound first before Ryan Yarbrough took over for extended innings. The strategy paid off early, but it was Jake Marisnick who scored the first (and only) run in the top of the fifth with a solo home run. That one run was enough, with Lance McCullers Jr. pitching a gem by going seven strong innings giving up just three hits, no runs, and striking out seven. He was followed by Chris Devenski in the eighth and Hector Rondon who got the save in the ninth as both offenses started the series off quiet in a one-run game.
Final Score: Astros 1, Rays 0
Friday, June 29th: 55-28 Astros (Gerrit Cole) vs. 39-41 Rays (Wilmer Font)
Another pitcher's duel was brewing early on Friday night, with Gerrit Cole and Wilmer Font getting through the first three innings scoreless. Things took a wrong turn for Houston in the bottom of the fourth, though, with Cole giving up back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with no outs before a sac fly gave Tampa a 1-0 lead. They added two more on an error by Marwin Gonzalez who made a bad throw to first which should've been the final out but instead gave the Rays a 3-0 lead. Alex Bregman got Houston on the board and trimmed the lead to one with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to end Font's night, but that would be the end of the scoring as Tampa Bay's bullpen held Houston at bay to finish out the Astros' loss.
Final Score: Astros 2, Rays 3
Saturday, June 30th: 55-29 Astros (Justin Verlander) vs. 40-41 Rays (Ryne Stanek)
Much like Keuchel on Wednesday, things got bad in a hurry for Justin Verlander on Saturday. Verlander allowed five runs across the first and second innings to put Houston in another 5-0 hole. Verlander didn't allow any more damage after that, but it resulted in his shortest start to date with only five innings during which he allowed the five runs on nine hits. The Ray's sent Ryne Stanek out to start the game again before the true starter Vidal Nuno took over. Alex Bregman was once again the one to try and spark the offense with another two-run homer, making it a 5-2 game, but like the day before, Tampa's bullpen would outmatch the struggling offense of Houston to wrap up another loss for the Astros.
Final Score: Astros 2, Rays 5
Sunday, July 1st: 55-30 Astros (Charlie Morton) vs. 41-41 Rays (Blake Snell)
Charlie Morton had his second strong start of the week to close things out on Sunday, getting through his first six innings with just four hits and no runs allowed to the Rays. Evan Gattis gave Houston a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the top of the seventh, which looked like it may be enough to take to the end. Unfortunately, Morton would get tagged with two earned runs after he allowed two singles in the seventh which would come around to score off Chris Devenski who relieved Morton earlier in that inning. Brad Peacock allowed Tampa to extend their lead to 3-1 with a solo home run in the eighth before the Rays worked around another solo home run by Evan Gattis in the ninth to win the series and end Houston's week with a losing record.
Final Score: Astros 2, Rays 3
Summary: Despite Alex Bregman and Evan Gattis having strong weeks to cap off a great month of June for them, it was not enough to salvage this week which ended with a disappointing 3-4 record. Between Correa moving to the DL, George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez worsening their slumps, and a couple of weak starts from starters, this week was a bad stretch in an otherwise great season to this point. There were still some high points in the week with the bullpen continuing to perform well, and dominant starts from Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers. We've all learned not to panic too early with this team when they show signs of slowing down, so I'm not ringing any alarm bells just yet. Justin Verlander had two of his worst starts of the year which he will likely bounce back from this week with a start against the struggling White Sox. George Springer is definitely streaky, so him heating back up can turn a lot of things around offensively. Carlos Correa out of the lineup is definitely going to be a temporary pain, but better for him to get something like this corrected now than it biting him later in the season. This team is too good to have a setback last too long, so I'm willing to write this last week off as another bout of bad luck at Tropicana Field.
MVP of the Week - Alex Bregman:
Bregman may have arguably surpassed Evan Gattis to have the best month of June with his performance this week. He dominated at the plate, going 13 for 28 in the seven games this week for a .464 average. He hit five doubles, stole two bases, and scored seven runs, five of which came on his powerful five homers this week, the most notable being the walk-off blast to win the game on Wednesday. He has all the makings (if he can limit some errors on defense) to be a superstar very soon. This Week:
- Tue-Wed: (55-31) Astros @ (38-47) Rangers
- Thu-Sun: (29-54) White Sox @ (55-31) Astros
The Astros will have the day off Monday to travel to Arlington and hopefully hit the reset button on the series in Tampa Bay. They'll play a quick two-game series with the Rangers on Tuesday and Wednesday then head home for four games against the White Sox. These are two struggling teams, and teams that Houston has feasted on already this year, so it's a great opportunity to right the ship and put together a great week. If they can't win these two series, even with their current slumps and injuries, something will have to change.
The Houston Texans addressed their most glaring needs by selecting offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery and a pair of Iowa State receivers in the NFL draft.
“The idea was to try to add good players, good people that are young, tough, hungry, that want to win, that put the team first,” general manager Nick Caserio said. “These picks exemplify that.”
The Texans got players that could help them quickly despite not picking in the first round for a second straight season. They didn’t have a first-round pick last year because of trades, including the one to move up and get defensive end Will Anderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft.
This season they shipped the 25th overall pick to the Giants on Thursday in exchange for several picks.
Their first selection in this draft was receiver Jayden Higgins, who was taken with the second pick of the second round. They added Ersery later in the second round with the 48th overall selection and picked up Higgins’ teammate Jaylin Noel in the third round.
Ersery could be Houston’s left tackle of the future after the offseason trade of five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Ersery started 38 games at left tackle over three seasons at Minnesota where he was a third-team All-American last season.
He comes to Houston to help shore up a line that allowed C.J. Stroud to be sacked 52 times last season, which was the second most in the NFL.
The Texans added veteran tackle Cam Robinson this offseason and Ersery will compete with him to protect Stroud’s blind side as the Texans attempt to reach the playoffs for a third straight season under coach DeMeco Ryans.
The 6-foot-6, 331-pound Ersery, who was the Big Ten’s Offensive Lineman of the Year last season, can’t wait to play with Stroud.
“C.J. Stroud is a baller,” Ersery said. “I’m so honored to be a guy to help out and come in and help protect him. I’m just super stoked and I know I’m going to a great organization.”
Cyclones teammates
Higgins and Noel join the Texans to add more depth at receiver to complement star Nico Collins with Tank Dell recovering from a serious knee injury and Stefon Diggs gone to the Patriots.
Higgins, who has been compared to Collins, had 87 receptions for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Cyclones and Noel added 80 catches for 1,194 yards and eight scores.
After Higgins was drafted, Noel never imagined he’d be heading to Houston, too. He shared on social media a fortune he received from a Chinese restaurant that read: “Look forward to an unplanned reunion with an out-of-touch friend.”
Noel later shared his feelings about joining Higgins on the roster.
“I was surprised,” Noel said. “But they’ve seen that 1-2 punch all year. They’re going to be very happy with those selections for sure.”
Caserio said a talk with Iowa State coach Matt Campbell on Friday helped him make his final decisions on the receivers.
“He was effusive in his… belief and praise of both Higgins and Noel,” Caserio said.
The Texans now have three receivers from Iowa State on their roster after drafting Xavier Hutchinson in the sixth round in 2023.
Overcoming obstacles
Ersery and his four siblings were raised by a single mother and experienced homelessness when he was a child despite her working multiple jobs. He is thrilled to have put those struggles behind him as he embarks on his next chapter.
“I’ve got that hardworking mentality from her,” he said. “So, growing up times were tough but now I’ve got my foot in the door and I look forward to trying to change some things around.”
Caserio loves guys with work ethic like Ersery’s and said that’s one reason why they believe he’ll fit in with the Texans.
“If you come in and put your head down and work and just get better, take advantage of your opportunities, you’re going to have a shot to have success and do a lot of good things for the organization,” he said.
What’s in a name?
Along with Noel, the Texans added another Jaylin in this draft with they picked USC cornerback Jaylin Smith in the third round.
“We got Jaylins, and we got all these guys around. It’s going to be hard to keep them straight,” Caserio joked on Friday after they picked Smith.
Then on Saturday, the Texans added another player with the same name, albeit with a different spelling, when they took Penn State safety Jaylen Reed in the sixth round.
That gives them four players with the same name and three different spellings as the three rookies join starting safety Jalen Pitre on the team.
Doubling up
Along with drafting two players from Iowa State, the Texans also added a pair of players from Southern California when they picked running back Woody Marks in the fourth round after drafting Smith in the third.
Marks ran for a career-high 1,133 yards with nine touchdowns for the Trojans last season after transferring from Mississippi State.
Be sure to watch the video below as NFL.com Draft Analyst Lance Zierlein shares his thoughts on all the Texans' picks!