Zach “Space Cowboy for about 5 minutes” Cole made his electric debut for the Astros last night. And by golly, what a start it was. His first three at bats went: 1st pitch homer, RBI-single, RBI-single. This set a franchise record for RBI’s in an Astros rookie debut, and the fifth in club history to hit a homer in his first at bat. This helped the Astros secure an 11-3 blowout of Atlanta in game one of the series.
More important than that was
the reality that they held off the Mariners and Rangers for at least another night. Being tied at 80-68 with Seattle and having 14 games left(including tonight), these guys can’t afford to have many more let downs.
Facing Braves right hander Bryce Elder(7-9, 5.31 ERA, 112 SO) tonight would be Hunter Brown(11-7, 2.25 ERA, 190 SO). The Astros won his last outing 11-0(vs. Rangers), but lost the previous three in a row in which he started.
This symbolizes their season in a nutshell. The only thing consistent about them as of late is their inconsistency. But, maybe tonight they build more momentum as they seek to win their 5th AL West crown in a row and 8th since 2017.
First Pitch: 7:16 EDT (6:16 our time)
Top of the 2nd Inning:
Yesterday the Astros went 6-9 with RISP. Today, they kept the gravy train rolling early thanks to an RBI single by Yainer Diaz and a two-RBI double by Jeremy Peña. It was then 3-0 Astros.
Top of the 3rd Inning:
Don’t look now, but Jose Altuve may be slowly finding his way out of his funk. After hitting a home run yesterday, he advanced Carlos Correa to third base on a single to right field. Carlos was then scored via a fielder’s choice ground out by Jesús Sánchez to make it 4-0.
Christian Walker then made it 6-0 after a 107 mph bomb went 431 feet over the center field wall. Walker now has five hits in his last seven at bats. (3-5 yesterday, 2-2 today)
Important note: Jose Altuve was pulled from the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning. He was replaced by Ramón Urías. (Kalas and Blum mentioned on the broadcast that Altuve was not in the dugout and that they’re awaiting word on what led to the removal)
Bottom of the 4th Inning:
Matt Olsen finally got the Braves on the board with a homer to right field. 6-1 Astros.
Bottom of the 7th Inning:
Hunter Brown completed his third quality start in a row in the bottom of the 7th. His final line was: 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K’s, 1 HR, 2 ER. Enyel De Los Santos replaced him after a single by Matt Olsen and a walk by Ozzie Albies.
Ha-Seong Kim then singled to center field to score Matt Olsen and make it 6-2.
Jose Altuve Update: It was revealed on the SCHN broadcast that Altuve had returned to the dugout after being pulled from the game due to right foot discomfort. (Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. However, the Astros’ history with the word “discomfort” gives me pause here.)
Bottom of the 9th Inning:
Bryan King then entered in the bottom of the 9th to try and close out the game against Ronald Acuña, Drake Baldwin, and Ozzie Albies. And that he did, as he struck out Acuña and got contact outs from Baldwin and Albies to finish the job and help the Stros win the series.
They improved their record to 81-68 and now hold a ½ game lead on the Mariners for first place in the AL West. Seattle is leading the Angels 2-1 in the top of the 2nd at the time of writing.
The Astros send Framber Valdez(12-9, 3.42 ERA, 171 SO) to the mound against fellow southpaw Joey Wentz.(5-6, 5.61 ERA, 77 SO)
With a win, it would be their first sweep of an opponent since July 21-23rd against the Diamondbacks.
