Whenever Lance McCullers Jr. can provide five to six innings of two-run ball, you take it. No questions asked. This pitching staff can use any quality performance it can muster. For McCullers, you couldn’t really ask for anything more at this point in his career. Starts like this one are increasingly rare for him, so enjoy it while you can.
That said, I do think the Astros have a bit of an offense problem now. For those wondering, only the Angels have scored fewer runs than Houston in May, including today’s results. And it was more of the same in this game against the Mariners, with the Astros failing to score a run until the sixth inning. To be fair, Bryce Miller is pretty good at this pitching thing, so you can somewhat expect these results. And it isn’t like this lineup is having an issue with generating hits. Moreso, it is the lack of run production, which seems oddly familiar when you think about last season.
But you saw some life with Christian Walker leading off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to make it a 2-1 game. Jose Altuve would ultimately draw a bases-loaded walk a short while later to tie the game. The score would remain steady there until Altuve drove in another run in the eighth to take a brief lead.
Optimism returning?
Bryan King dashed those dreams in the ninth, issuing three walks around a hit, including one to Julio Rodríguez that would drive in the tying run. A 3-3 game with Seattle threatening…I’ve seen this movie and I do not like it. Thankfully, Bryan Abreu didn’t blow one against the Mariners for a change, and Zach Cole would mercifully walk this one off, hitting an RBI single in the tenth to walk it off to the tune of 4-3.
It was clear that Hoppe and Seattle had a game plan against Cole, throwing nothing but sliders on the edge or outside of the strike zone. While one could argue that Cole should’ve laid off pitches no. 5 and 6 to take a walk, I also give credit for laying off 2 through 4. Pitch no. 6 was particularly close to the zone and he did a fine job of at least putting it into play. Sometimes, that’s all a hitter has to do.
Feature photo from @astros on X, Source Link
7 H (2HR), 2 BB in 5.1 innings are, as you said it, increasingly rare for McCullers. Because, this time, he allowed only two runs.