Slammin'....!

GAME 62: Astros 5, Twins 4
GAME 63: Twins 8, Astros 0
GAME 64: Astros 14, Twins 5

Another series win!!! 

I was puzzled when I went to my neighbors' house on Saturday afternoon to check their newspaper for the Friday night game outcome -- although the game was only in Minnesota (not the West Coast), it was shown as a Late Game with no results. Extra innings? Nope --  the start was delayed almost an hour and a half due to rain. No matter, it took the Twins longer than that to get their first run off Astros pitching. Keuchel threw another beauty, although it took more pitches than some of his recent games. He pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 6 hits and two walks, for his seventh season win, a new personal record. Tony Sipp, relieving in the seventh, gave up runs for only the second time this  season -- 3 ERs on 3 hits. Following this season's fun new pattern, the Astros scored their runs on homers: Solo shots by Gonzales and Dominguez, in the third and fourth innings respectively, and a single-homer combo from our dynamic duo, Altuve and Springer in the sixth. The additional run came on Altuve's single, scoring Fowler, who had hit a triple to lead off the sixth inning.

The game I missed on Saturday was notable more for the Astros pitching than for the lack of hitting. Feldman has been pitching less and less like an ace recently, that role belonging now to Keuchel, with McHugh close behind (who would thunk it coming into the season!?). Feldman had a 1-2-3 first inning, but in the second, he hit a batter, walked 2, gave up a single, and thanks to a pair of fielding errors, allowed 3 runs, all unearned. After he had thrown 43 pitches in the inning,  Porter pulled him with 2 outs, saying that he wasn't going to allow Feldman to throw 50 pitches in one inning and risk his next start. Paul Clemens came in to relieve him, getting the third out, and then pitching a 1-2-3 third inning, before melting down in the fourth: Four walks, a single, and a double, allowing 3 more runs. This is the second game in a row in which Clemens pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and then totally lost his control in the next inning - not a good pattern for a long reliever. It didn't really matter in this game's outcome, since the Astros didn't score a single run. But it mattered for Clemens, who was optioned to Oklahoma City the next day.

You've gotta love a team that knows how to fight back! Just a day after the Twins humiliated the Astros with that 8-0 shutout, the kids came back slammin'... Literally! First career grand slams for Carter and Singleton, solo homers for Fowler and Springer, helping to rack up a season-high 14 runs.

With 2 of the 3 games in the weekend series against Minnesota on the Sabbath, when I close up my iPad, I got lucky that the Astros blowout game was  Sunday afternoon. Virtually ever member of the team had something to contribute. The Astros had a modest 5-3 lead, when Carter came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh inning. BANG! Make that 9-3! Singleton's slam came with two outs in the ninth inning. Cool under pressure! (Well, as much pressure as a big lead in the last inning can generate.) It was his second big hit of the day; he also hit a massive double to lead off the 7th. Singleton was batting cleanup in this game (which I predicted in my last blog post), and that big bat potential was the reason why. Fowler, who has been very hot since being moved into the leadoff role, went 2 for 5 with a solo homer and single. Altuve went 1 for 3 with a single, a walk and a HBP, giving him the opportunity to steal another pair of bases (leads the league at 23). Springer hit a solo homer. Grossman went 2 for 3 and scored 3 runs. Villar, whose recent drought was turning into a legendary oh-fer, went 3 for 5. Corporan only got 1 hit, but it was the one that scored the Astros first run in the second inning. Dominguez was the only batter not to get a hit, but he walked and scored. Like I said, something for everyone...

Well, nearly everyone. Houston's pitchers had a mixed day. McHugh got off to a very nice start, but soon started having control problems. Although he had a 5-1 lead when he left the game, his 4 1/3 innings did not qualify him for the win. Fields allowed both of McHugh's walked runners to score in the 5th, before pitching a scoreless 6th. Our new veteran reliever, Farnsworth, allowed a pair of singles and a pair of walks in the 7th -- not a good outing for him. Then Darin Downs threw the remaining 2 2/3 innings without giving up a run, to end on a happy note.

The next couple of weeks will be interesting ones: The Astros are playing 4 games against the Diamondbacks, and 7 games against the Rays -- both teams that have worse records than ours! If there's any time in our schedule that begs for a winning streak, it's now! The only other games that the Astros will be playing in the next 2 weeks are against the Nats, here in Washington, and I will definitely be there to cheer!