At the start of the season, we all had a lot of question marks about the Astros. But no one really questioned Lance McCullers. Everyone was sure he was washed up.
Today, he looked like the ace of the staff. He has seldom pitched better, even in his glory days of yore.
He gave the Astros their the first quality start of the season. But the term “quality start” doesn’t begin to describe the dominance of this performance by the reborn Lance. In seven innings he allowed only one run, four hits, one walk, while striking out nine. He threw 96 pitches, 63 for strikes. Seventeen of those were swinging strikes. He had full command of the entirety of his diverse pitch arsenal.
Shades of 2017, when McCullers threw 26 straight curves against the Yankees to hurl the Astros into the World Series.
And speaking of 2017. Is Jose Altuve drinking from the fountain of youth? It’s like he’s going for MVP again. Four for four with two homers and a walk. And he and Carlos Correa teamed up for two double plays. Are THESE the good old days?
The Astros started scoring right away, but their one run first inning was mildly disappointing. After three straight singles, a Correa double play accounted for the only run, but more was coming against Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez.
In the third inning Yordan made sure no double play would spoil a rally. His two-run homer scoring Altuve gave the Astros a 3-0 lead.
The homer was Yordan’s second, and only the second by the Astros all season. In the fifth inning Brice Mathews would become the first mere mortal among the Astros to register a dinger, this one 434 feet.
A sacrifice fly by Yainer Diaz in the sixth inning off reliever Johan Oviedo scored the Astros’ fifth run.
In the seventh inning Lance McCullers began to tire. He walked his first and only batter of the game, and two doubles took the McCullers shutout off the books. But with two men in scoring position and two outs, McCullers struck out Masataka Yoshida on a 3-2 count.
It was the first time McCullers has pitched seven complete innings since 2022. He finished with 96 pitches and a game score of 76. The last time McCullers had a gamescore that high was in September, 2022. McCuller’s highest career gamescore of 86 was in 2021 against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he went seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.
Considering how the Astros’ bullpen pitched more innings than the starters in the first four games of the season, Lance’s longevity was a welcome and needed surprise.
The Astros picked up two more runs in the seventh, starting with Altuve’s first homer of the season. Two batters later, Christian Walker knocked in Carlos Correa with a double off the left field wall inches from a home run. It’s the second time this short season thast Walker has missed a home run to deep left field by inches.
Altuve HR #1
Altuve HR #2
It looks like the Astros’ offensive breakout is for real. Altuve isn’t getting so old after all. Yordan is baaaack!!! Christian Walker looks like the free agent bonus baby the Astros paid so dearly for two years ago. The youngsters, Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith, and Brice Mathews all made meaningful contributions. The Astros had 13 hits, four home runs, and two doubles.
This game was supposed to be a loss; their ace against our #5. Bring on Hunter Brown tomorrow.
Feature photo from @astros on X, Source Link.
How many times reading this excellent recap and watching the clips before it becomes unhealthy? Asking for a friend.
Great recap! First well-played game on both sides of the ball. Not to be lost is that Weiss came in and only walked one batter while throwing 33 pitches over two innings. Just making it easy on the team and the fans against a potent lineup.
Thanks for doing these recaps. They’re a great way to review what happened in the game & access the highlights.