The Astros, to be clear, face an uphill battle for the remainder of the 2024 season, thanks to its 7-19 start to the season entering Saturday’s Mexico City Series opener. According to Baseball-Reference, the club’s postseason chances now stand at only 19.8%. Flopping hard on the recent road trip to Washington D.C. and Chicago certainly didn’t help matters and made this weekend’s series against the Rockies in Mexico City about as must-win as late April could reasonably be. But considering the opponent and the high altitude (7,350 feet), it felt like an opportune time to see if a struggling lineup could find its footing.
I think they found it, at least for one game.
Trey Cabbage, who was promoted for the Mexico Series as the temporary 27th player on the active roster, got the scoring started for Houston in the second inning, with an RBI double in his first plate appearance as an Astro to drive in Yainer Díaz.
Tip of the cap for Try Cabbage who gets a double and RBI in his first AB as an Astros.
#Relentless pic.twitter.com/nDQq0MR9Er— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) April 27, 2024
Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker would hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead that wouldn’t be relinquished for the rest of the game. Alvarez would even hit another dinger later in the game. Mauricio Dubón continues to make his case to remain an everyday player. Heck, we even saw Díaz hit a triple and José Abreu drive in two runs. For a game that saw Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman finish 0-for-10 with two walks from the former, it was encouraging to see the rest of the lineup come to life. The main question now is whether the lineup builds upon this game.
On the pitching side, Ronel Blanco continues to impress, limiting Colorado to two runs across 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out eight while walking only two. While he did run into some early trouble with Ryan McMahon’s two-run shot in the first inning, the right-hander didn’t break. In total, Blanco generated 21 whiffs on 53 swings. Seth Martinez kept the Rockies off the board in relief of Blanco in the sixth, stranding the bases loaded. Bryan Abreu struck out three while allowing a lone walk in the seventh. Tayler Scott was a bit erratic with his control, but struck out his final two batters in the eighth. Brandon Bielak allowed two runs, but wasn’t helped by two defensive indifference calls. All in all, the pitching staff held up quite well in the higher altitude, which was a concern entering Saturday.
Framber Valdez makes his return from the IL on Sunday, starting opposite of Austin Gomber. Now with a 8-19 record, the Astros still need to string together some wins to make up for lost time. Valdez’s return is hopefully the shot in the arm this club needs to put this dreadful start to the season behind them.