Lance McCullers begins his comeback with a scoreless first inning while Jose Altuve is still climbing the learning curve in the outfield
Is the Jose Altuve outfield-experiment test tube half empty or half full?
On the one hand he made a beautiful running catch in left center field. He took the exact right angle at the crack of the bat and covered lots of ground to grab an over-the-shoulder fly.
On the other hand, on a mid-distance, routine fly to the left field line, he let the ball bounce off the heel of his glove, allowing two runs to score.
It was the low-point of a rough performance for Spencer Arrighetti, who allowed four runs, three earned, in 3.1 innings pitched. Although he struck out four, he was victimized by four walks and four walks, three of them infield variety.
Today was the very long awaited return of Lance McCullers, who finished a scoreless first inning in 13 pitches, his fastball topping out at 93 MPH. It’s just the beginning of a long road back, but the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.
The Astros got offensive production from welcome sources. Zach Dezenzo stayed hot, smacking a double, as did Altuve. Jeremy Pena singled home Altuve in the third inning. Unfortunately, Dezenzo had to leave the game after a hard grounder hit him in the face.
Following Arrighetti, Bryan King hurled an impressive 1.2 innings, allowing only a walk with three Ks. Jalen Beeks made his third appearance of the Spring, adding another two scoreless innings to the relief staff’s impressive showing.
Some guy name Wilmy Sanchez pitched the ninth inning and looked nasty. He worked around a single and a dropped third strike to escape unscathed with two Ks and some vicious looking stuff.