It is one thing to lose a game when a starting pitcher is essentially tossing batting practice. The Astros are quite familiar with that issue this season. But a loss truly stings when the game was right there for a win and just slipped away. That was Wednesday’s finale against the Blue Jays.
Hunter Brown, for the first 5.1 innings, didn’t allow a hit. The right-hander was locked in early on, striking out seven in his first five innings. With a no-hitter through five, it looked like he and the Astros were cruising to victory. Alas, the game changed in the sixth, with the Blue Jays scoring three runs to tie the game, with the two hits that drove in those runs occurring on pitches outside of the strike zone (a low knuckle curve to Kazuma Okamoto and a high four-seam to Jesús Sánchez).
Alas, that’s baseball. It doesn’t take much sometimes for a game to turn against you in a hurry. Of course, the bigger issue wasn’t necessarily Brown’s performance; it was more about the missed opportunities. While the Astros did capitalize in the second inning, driving in three runs, there were numerous missed opportunities. Taylor Trammell and Christian Walker failing to drive in a run with the bases loaded in the first inning loomed large. Yainer Díaz, Nick Allen, and Jeremy Peña generated three consecutive outs with runners on second and third in the sixth. Not sure why Isaac Paredes was still on the bench in this situation, but he was used as a pinch hitter with no one on and one out in the ninth. Yordan Alvarez not sliding into second base in the tenth cost the Astros a valuable out in the tenth inning.
Although Josh Hader threw only ten pitches in the ninth, Joe Espada decided to roll with Bennett Sousa in the tenth, with Ernie Clement hitting a two-run home run to break the 3-3 tie. Ultimately, the Astros would lose 5-4, with Espada getting tossed as well. The Rangers beat the Giants on Wednesday, so the AL West lead is now down to 1.5 games. A six-game road trip through San Diego and San Francisco is up next following Thursday’s off day. And guess who comes to Houston shortly after? The Mariners, in what is setting up to possibly be a consequential three-game series for the AL West starting August 14.
Feature photo from Astros on X
Baseball Gods will even it out. In the end, the lucky wins and unlucky losses will cancel out. Stuff happens. Cheers!
Yordan misstep in second base was a killer.