Astros run winning streak to eight, extend division lead to five games
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
April is over. May has begun. The Houston Astros still can’t lose. This is officially fun.
Granted, it’s still plenty early, but the Houston Astros are doing some special things right now. That continued on Friday with a hard fought 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners, giving them eight straight wins dating back to April 22 in Seattle. Their lead in the AL West swelled to five games over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Astros scored all four of their runs on home runs. Evan Gattis hit a two-run shot in the first to get things started. Jake Marisnick and George Springer followed with solo shots, which proved equally as important in the outcome.
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Manager A.J. Hinch pieced things together nicely with his pitching staff after starter Samuel Deduno lasted only 4 1/3 innings. Hinch called on five relievers to finish off the victory. Closer Luke Gregerson handled the ninth but looked shaky, allowing home runs to Nelson Cruz and Logan Morrison. Hence, the earlier insurance paying off.
Jose Altuve also tied some Astros history in the victory. With two singles, Altuve has had nine consecutive multi-hit games, tying Jesus Alou (1969) and Billy Hatcher (1987) for the longest such streak in franchise history. The kid is a star.
ROYALS FLIRT WITH COMBINED NO-HITTER IN WIN AGAINST TIGERS
While Alex Rodriguez made history in Boston, the Kansas City Royals nearly made history as a pitching staff on Friday. Starter Chris Young and reliever Ryan Madsen pitched the team through seven no-hit innings in a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
It wasn’t until shutdown reliever Kelvin Herrera entered the game in the eighth that Detroit’s offense woke up. Nick Castellanos singled after Alex Avila drew a lead-off walk, leading to their only tally, but they couldn’t muster enough in the eighth or ninth against Wade Davis to flip the score around.
The Royals have now taken each of the first two in this early but intriguing division showdown.
The big story was Chris Young, who was making his first spot start for the Royals. After being voted AL Comeback Player of the Year in 2014, he found it difficult landing a new gig this offseason, only latching on with Kansas City on March 7. He’s currently filling the long reliever/spot starter role, which proved valuable here with Yordano Ventura serving his seven-game suspension.
Young wasn’t efficient, walking three and needing 81 pitches to get through five innings, but he was overpowering, striking out nine in a game for the first time since 2012.
The Royals scored all they needed in the first, plating three runs after Eric Hosmer wisely beat the shift with a bunt single. Kendrys Morales doubled home two.
HOME SWEET HOME FOR TAMPA BAY
With the Baltimore Orioles displaced this weekend in the wake of the Freddie Gray protests, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing the role of visitors in their own ballpark. It’s weird, yes, and also unfortunate under the circumstances, but based on Friday’s 2-0 win over the Orioles it looks like the Rays could care less who gets the last at-bats.
It helped that Alex Colome and four relievers combined to shutdown and shutout the O’s powerful offense on four hits. Colome lasted five innings, striking out six. Brandon Gomes, Steve Geltz, Kevin Jepsen and Brad Boxberger each pitched one inning, combining to strike out another seven.
Offensively, the Rays managed only four hits of their own. Evan Longoria’s RBI double in the fourth opened the scoring. James Loney followed with an RBI single to wrap it up.
With the win, the Rays remain one game behind the division-leading Yankees.
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WALKOFFS GALORE
It wouldn’t be a wild Friday night in MLB without a walkoff… or two… or how about three?
The red hot Marlins continued their roll out at home with a 4-3 win against the hapless Phillies. Marcell Ozuna played hero after launching his third double of the game off the wall in left-center. Giancarlo Stanton raced all the way around from first to set off the celebration and give Miami its eighth victory in nine games.
In St. Louis, the ever resilient Cardinals won their fourth straight, 2-1 over the Pirates in 10 innings. Matt Adams laced an opposite-field single off the previously unscored upon Rob Scahill, to score Jon Jay. The Cardinals got seven outstanding innings from Lance Lynn, who struck out 10. They still own baseball’s best record at 16-6.
In the nightcap, the San Francisco Giants stayed calm and watched on as Joe Panik singled home pinch-runner Gregor Blanco in the ninth innng. San Francisco had loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks against Joe Smith
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
