Astros Complete Sweep at the Trop, Win Eighth in a Row

It took extra time, but the Astros won their eighth in a row.

The Baseball Gods are nice, except when they’re not…

It’s a game of inches, and sometimes things don’t break your way, but sometimes they do.

The first inning didn’t provide much in the way of drama. Houston went down 1-2-3 in the top of the frame. In the bottom, Zach Dezenzo turned a Brandon Lowe groundout into a one-out baserunner when the ball evaded his glove for an error, but Lowe was erased a moment later when Ronel Blanco induced an easy 5-6-3 double play.

Neither team produced a baserunner after that until one out in the bottom of the third, when Taylor Walls touched Blanco for a single down the right line. The ball glanced off Dezenzo’s glove, and for a moment I thought it would be ruled another error. Blanco then struck out former Astros CF Jose Siri swinging, and got Yandy Díaz to pop out, stranding Walls to end the inning.

In the fourth, Houston got their first baserunner when Yordan Alvarez drew a two-out walk, but he was stranded on a Yainer Díaz pop-out.

The game remained scoreless until Jeremy Peña led off the top of the fifth with a solo homer to left-center field. The home run, his 12th, took off at a 35° angle at 101.8 MPH and traveled 384 feet before landing. It also ruined opposing starter Zack Littell’s then-perfect game. Mauricio Dubón drew a two-out walk before Chas McCormick struck out for the second time in the game.

After an otherwise eventless fifth inning, Edwin Uceta relieved Litttell to open the sixth. Uceta pitched a clean frame until issuing a two-out walk to Alvarez, who seems to be pretty good at that, but Yainer Díaz defused it by striking out on five pitches.

Yandy Díaz collected Tampa Bay’s second hit of the game with two outs in the sixth, but he was stranded on Brandon Lowe’s grounder, 1-6-3. Kevin Kelly entered to face Houston’s lineup for the seventh and made quick work with a strikeout and two infield grounders.

Ronel Blanco was replaced by Kaleb Ort for the bottom of the seventh. Blanco’s night resulted in a pretty good GameScore of 74 after allowing just the two hits and zero walks against four strikeouts.

Ort collected one out then walked Josh Lowe and Junior Caminero before getting lifted for Tayler Scott. Lowe stole third base before Ben Rortvedt struck out and Jonny DeLuca grounded to Alex Bregman for a 5-3 inning-ending out.

Manuel Rodriguéz came in to pitch the eighth inning for the Rays, and gave McCormick his negative Hat Trick with his only strikeout in an otherwise uninteresting top of the frame. Bryan Abreu entered to pitch for Houston and issued a leadoff walk to Taylor Walls. Walls moved to second on a Siri ground out, then stole third. He tied the score on a Yandy Díaz fielder’s choice, but Díaz was soon thereafter erased on a failed steal of second base. The inning ended in a 1-1 tie.

Pete Fairbanks came in to pitch the ninth inning and made quick work with a perfect frame on three fly outs. Josh Hader reciprocated with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. So, we got free baseball.

Garrett Cleavinger came in to pitch the 10th with pinch runner Pedro León taking second base as a pinch-runner for Yainér Díaz, then took third on Peña’s deep fly out. After a Dezenzo strikeout, Jake Meyers drew a walk on four pitches to set up Dubón with runners on the corners, then stole second base. With two in scoring position, with a full count, Dubón drove home León and moved Meyers to third with a single straight up the middle for a 2-1 lead. McCormick ended the inning with his fourth strikeout, for a Golden Sombrero.

Hader remained in the game to pitch the 10th, with Victor Caratini inheriting the backstop position. Dylan Carlson flew out to left field, Deluca struck out on a full count. Walls then grounded out to Bregman for the final out of the contest.

A Few Things

Houston’s 58-36 record and resultant .617 winning percentage is the best in MLB from April 27 through now. Previous to that date, the Astros were just 7-19. (credit — I was watching the broadcast and they put an infographic onscreen).

Christopher Morel’s eye black makes him look a little like Peter Criss. I mean just look at it.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

The two teams combined for four hits with a composite .180 xBA, with two hits apiece. Houston’s slashline was .063/.167/.156 and Tampa Bay’s was .063/.143/.063.

Ronel Blanco finished with 11 swings and misses in six innings of work. Josh Hader also had 11 swings and misses, in two innings of work.

Houston pitching had the five fastest pitches of the game, Josh Hader pitched one at 98.6, then Hader, Abreu, and Ort combined for four pitches at 98.1.

Aside from Jeremy Peña’s 384-foot homer, he also hit a 385-foot out.

Dubón’s sacrifice fly was Houston’s hardest hit ball of the game, at 105.6.

The Baseball Gods are mean, except when they’re not.

Houston gets a day off tomorrow before facing the mighty Chicago White Sox three times at MMP starting Friday.