Who woulda thunk on Opening Day that the Astros would enter the final ten games of the season fighting just to make the playoffs, and they would depend on pitchers named Jason Alexander, A.J. Blubaugh, Colton Gordon, or Jayden Murray to get them there.
Last night, the hero was Jason Alexander, arguably the current #2 starter. Tonight, it was the tandem of Blubaugh and Gordon, who got the Astros through the first six innings, allowing only one run.
But thanks to the dynamic duo at the top of the Astros’
lineup, Jeremy Pena and Carlos Correa, the Astros took an early 2-0 lead. In the first inning, Pena led off with a single, followed by a Correa double and a Jose Altuve sac fly to deep left field.
In the third inning, the dynamic duo struck again with consecutive singles. Pena scored his second run on a sacrifice grounder by Christian Walker.
Pena got his third hit in the four-run Astros fourth inning slugfest. It started with singles by Jake Meyers and Victor Caratini, followed by an RBI double by Yainer Diaz.
Jesus Sanchez followed with a two-RBI single scoring Caratini and Diaz, chasing Rangers starter Merrill Kelly.
With one out, after a Pena single, Altuve singled home Sanchez against Ranger reliever Cole Winn.
The Astros’ damage could have been worse. Christian Walker hit a rocket line drive to second that should have scored another run, but instead resulted in an inning-ending double play. As we shall see, they could have used the extra runs.
Astros starter A.J. Blubaugh completed three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. (Is the playoff rotation Brown, Javier, Alexander, and Blubaugh?) Blubaugh was followed by Colton Gordon, who in three innings allowed only one run on a Cody Freeman, fifth-inning homer.
Jayden Murray held the Rangers in the seventh inning, but the Rangers piled four runs on Enyal De Los Santos, the fourth RBI on a single by Adolis Garcia against Bryan Abreu.
After closing out last night’s game, Bryan Abreu notched the save after allowing two singles but striking out Kyle Higashioka to preserve the win and the game.
The Astros go for the needed sweep tomorrow, same time, same channel. The red-hot Mariners won their 10th straight tonight against KC, preserving their one-game lead over the Astros in the AL West.
