Well, that was a depressing loss.
The Astros now have a 31-39 record, 70 games into the season, and this team simply isn’t good. To be fair, they’re not downright terrible either. Better health likely adds a couple of wins. The pitching staff inexplicably forgetting how to, you know, pitch for a month likely cost Houston a couple of wins. But the record is the record. I mean, what else can you say?
Dropping two of three to the Angels while being outscored 17-8 doesn’t change that perception. But Peter Lambert was fantastic, striking out six and walking no one through 6 1/3 innings. A pair of solo home runs to Mike Trout and Logan O’Hoppe were his only mistakes of the game. Unfortunately, Lambert left the game after 91 pitches due to a comebacker hitting his pitching hand, but thankfully, he will be fine.
Other than Lambert, though, there wasn’t too much to like about this game. The only runs scored were a pair of solo home runs, one from Cam Smith and the other from Shay Whitcomb. The lineup struck out 13 times while walking just once against Reid Detmers and company. Four hits total. And the real kicker? Look at the overturned call at home plate that meant Yordan Alvarez was out.
While there wasn’t a guarantee the Astros would ultimately win the game, it is worth noting, as Joe Espada shared in his postgame interview, that if the ball hadn’t hit Isaac Paredes, the outcome might have been different.
Still tied 2-2 in the tenth inning, the Angels were able to walk it off against Bryan Abreu, with Jose Siri’s RBI single scoring that decisive run to make it a 3-2 win. If there is a bright side to Abreu’s appearance, it’s that his velocity maxed out around 97.8 mph. The results have to follow, but seeing his velocity bounce back in another game is encouraging.
Alas, the outcome is the outcome. The Astros will need to start stringing together some series wins if they have any hope of turning this season around. The organization ought to feel fortunate to remain on the fringes of the AL postseason picture. It can certainly get better with more healthy players, but I wouldn’t count on it right now.
Feature photo from Astros on X
Yes, he allowed two solo shots, but I thought Peter Lambert was genuinely good last night.
In the Discord server gamethread thought, the Spurs-Knicks game quickly took over the discourse. I’m not even an NBA fan but I had to tune in and it was nutso:
June is supposed to be the easiest part of the schedule we only play 2 teams over .500 we are not taking advantage of it and looking like we will be under .500 on July 1st for the first time in the dynasty era
We are cooked
The Lambchise should be extended. Start the rebuild with cheap arms. He wants to be here because we gave him a chance nobody else would. There is a loyalty I feel needs to be tapped. Start the sell-off otherwise
If someone wants to trade a prospect with more upside at the deadline for him, wouldn’t you want that? I’ve been impressed with lambert’s season so far too, but I still think he’s just a good bottom of the rotation kind of guy.