The streak is over, but hope is not lost

The good, bad, and ugly from the Texans loss to the Colts

Jermaine Every
Dec 9, 2018, 4:43 pm
Deshaun Watson had an up and down day. Tim Warner/Getty Images

The streak is over as the Texans lost to the Colts 24-21. Here's how I saw the end of the streak play out:

The Good

-Deshaun Watson made another play not many can make from the quarterback position. On their first touchdown drive, he scrambled around to keep a play alive and found Jordan Akins on the sideline. He escaped would-be sackers and dropped a dime to Akins where only he could catch it. Plays like this are why this guy is special.

-J.J. Watt registered his 12th sack on the year. He continued his bid for comeback player of the year. He's rounding back into his past form, but I think he needs to get his cardio up. He looks gassed at times. All in all, it's great to see him back and performing at a high level.

-Watson has shown he's willing to throw to his wide receivers often, especially DeAndre Hopkins. This game however, the tight ends held his attention. Akins, Ryan Griffin, and Jordan Thomas totaled 11 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown.

The Bad

-Andre Hal came up big with another interception this week, but it was wasted. The offense went backwards and lost nine yards in a three and out possession. Points off turnovers are critical to success.

-Not sure who blew the coverage, Justin Reid or Tyrann Mathieu, but T.Y. Hilton caught a 60-yard pass that set up the Colts' first touchdown. It looked like a cover 2 and Mathieu failed to play his portion of the deep zone. The secondary was atrocious.

-Watson was sacked in the red zone on their second touchdown drive. He's been sacked in the red zone a league leading 12 times this season. If I'm not mistaken, he's also near the top when it comes to interceptions in the red zone as well. These are the type of mistakes are things you can't do if you expect to be taken seriously as a contender.

The Ugly

-Colts tight end Eric Ebron continued the tradition of opposing tight ends killing the Texans. So did Hilton. They combined to finish with 10 catches for 201 yards and a touchdown. Hilton has been a Texans killer his whole career. Decent tight ends in general have always killed them as well.

-The defense missed sacks on Andrew Luck no less than six or seven times. I understand his pass protection has been like the Great Wall of China the last few weeks, but isn't the Texans' pass rush supposed to be elite?

-Jadeveon Clowney killed any chances of a comeback when he jumped offsides on 3rd & 1 with two minutes left in the game and the team down 24-21 with no timeouts left. What an awful way for their hot streak to end. But, Clowney gonna Clowney.

To win nine straight after losing the first three games of the season is great. But to lose this game with a chance to wrap up the division is a heartbreaker. No worries though Texans fans. There's still hope. Thank the Dolphins for beating the Patriots. But the Texans couldn't grab the two seed in the AFC because they wet the bed against the Colts. Here's to hoping the Texans win out and the Patriots drop another one.

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The losing streak continues

Mariners get walk-off win over short-staffed Astros

Alex De Goti had an impressive debut. Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images

After a brutal homestand capped off by losing five players to the IL for health and safety protocols, the once 5-1 Astros brought their now 6-6 record to T-Mobile park in Seattle to try and right the ship. They'd have to do it with new and young players in the lineup using the "next man up" mentality to get some wins against the first-place Mariners.

Though the young bats would work themselves into a lead most of the night, Houston's bullpen wouldn't be able to hold the Mariners down, with Seattle ultimately walking things off in the ninth.

Final Score: Mariners 6, Astros 5

Astros' Record: 6-7, fourth in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Anthony Misiewicz (2-0)

Losing Pitcher: Ryne Stanek (0-1)

After a quiet start, Houston gets three in the fifth

After cruising through the Astros through the first four innings, allowing only a walk over that span, Houston was able to put up a big inning against Yusei Kikuchi in the top of the fifth. Carlos Correa notched the first hit of the night, followed by a walk by Taylor Jones to put two on base.



That brought Alex De Goti, making his major-league debut, to the plate and, in his second career at-bat, would get his first hit and RBI, bringing in Correa from second on a single. A second run would come on the same play on a throwing error, then Chaz McCormick made it a three-run inning with an RBI-double, putting Houston out front 3-0.

Urquidy comes an out shy of a quality start

Meanwhile, Jose Urquidy was doing well through five innings. On track for a much-needed quality start, the Mariners would tag him in the bottom of the sixth, getting three-straight hits to bring in two runs to lead off the frame and leaving a runner on second base with no outs.

Urquidy would rebound to get the next two batters on strikeouts, but at 90 pitches and with a left-handed hitter up next, Dusty Baker would bring in lefty Brooks Raley to try and get out of the inning with the one-run lead intact. Raley would do his job, putting Uruidy's line final: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 90 P.

Teams trade two-run seventh innings

The young bats for Houston struck again in the top of the seventh, with Jones and De Goti leading it off with back-to-back singles before Jason Castro would load the bases with a walk. With two outs, Aledmys Diaz would push the lead back to three with a two-RBI single, making it 5-2.

With Raley out after facing his one batter, next out of Houston's bullpen was Bryan Abreu to help maintain Houston's lead. Instead, he would give up two runs on two hits and a walk while getting just two outs before Baker moved on to Blake Taylor, who would get the last out of the seventh with Houston hanging on to a one-run lead at 5-4.

Mariners get the walk-off win

Taylor remained in the game in the bottom of the eighth, and after getting an out, would allow a game-tying solo home run to Evan White before injuring himself trying to field an infield single. Ryne Stanek entered and finished off the eighth, sending the tie game to the ninth.

After Houston came up empty in the top half, Stanek remained in the game in the bottom of the ninth, attempting to force extras. Back-to-back walks ended Stanek's night, with the Astros hoping Ryan Pressly could bail them out. He couldn't, though, giving up the walk-off hit as the Mariners would take the opener, 6-5.

Up Next: Game two of this three-game set will start an hour earlier on Saturday, with first pitch at 8:10 PM Central. Zack Greinke (1-1, 4.08 ERA) will try to rebound from a poor start his last time out for the Astros, while the Mariners will hand the ball to Chris Flexen (1-0, 4.50 ERA).

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