Astros complete sweep of Royals, close in on AL’s best record
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.
If for some reason you’re still not convinced the Houston Astros are for real, perhaps their three-game sweep of the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals can sway your opinion. The Astros completed the sweep with a hard fought 6-5 victory on Wednesday night.
After falling behind 3-0 in the second inning, Houston rallied to score five in the middle innings to take the lead. Chris Carter’s 100th career home run opened their scoring. After Marwin Gonzalez homered and likely All-Star Jose Altuve tied the game with an RBI single, Evan Gattis put them ahead with a two-run single in the fifth.
The resilient Royals didn’t fade away though, tying the game again in the seventh on Jarrod Dyson’s two-run triple. Houston scored the winner in their half of the seventh on Carter’s fielder’s choice. Not exactly the most thrilling winning run, but very fitting for the Astros.
With the win, Houston now owns the AL’s second best record at 47-34. They’re only percentage points behind Kansas City, which fell to 44-31.
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The only dark cloud hovering for Houston is the condition of outfielder George Springer. Springer was hit with a pitch on the wrist and left the game with a reported contusion. However, the team didn’t sound overly optimistic about his condition following the game.
Springer has been a stabilizing force since being moved into the leadoff position on May 24. In 36 games since, he’s hitting .317/.391/.504. In other words, the Astros can ill-afford to lose his bat.
JUSTIN BOUR LAUNCHES THREE-RUN WALKOFF HOMER
The Miami Marlins aren’t contenders, but they’re starting to look like awfully good spoilers. Since losing Giancarlo Stanton to a broken hamate bone on Friday, they’ve gone 3-1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, including a dramatic 6-5 walkoff win against San Francisco on Wednesday night.
Justin Bour was the hero. After Christian Yelich and Adeiny Hechevarria started the ninth inning with singles against Giants’ closer Santiago Casilla, Bour lifted off, depositing a three-run shot into the right field seats.
The home run was Bour’s seventh of the season. More importantly for Miami, it completed a rare late comeback. Miami had been 0-38 when trailing after seven innings this season. It also helped them overcome hitting into a franchise record five double plays during the game.
Four of those double plays came against Giants starter Chris Heston, who was in line for his ninth victory before the ninth inning. Now the Giants will focus on avoiding a sweep on Thursday, and it won’t be easy with Marlins’ ace Jose Fernandez making his return from Tommy John surgery.
BLUE JAYS ERUPT ON CANADA DAY
Wednesday was a day of celebration in Canada, and the Toronto Blue Jays offense provided plenty of fireworks to make the celebration even grander.
In an 11-2 victory against the Boston Red Sox, the Blue Jays connected for five home runs, including two from first baseman Justin Smoak. Toronto also got a three-run shot from Edwin Encarnacion, which opened the scoring in the first inning. Jose Bautista and All-Star vote leader Josh Donaldson each added a two-run shot later in the game to complete a thrilling performance for the 45,392 fans at Rogers Centre.
Jose Reyes did not homer, but contributed four hits and scored four runs. Donaldson, Smoak and Kevin Pillar each had three hits in the 16-hit attack.
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On the hill, Toronto’s Mark Buehrle improved to 9-4 with six innings of one-run ball. Buehrle’s remarkable season of run support continued as Toronto has now topped 10 runs in six of his 16 outings
On the other side, Rick Porcello was lit up for seven runs over two innings, including three home runs. His ERA ballooned to 6.08 over 94 2/3 innings.
CUBS SILENCE METS WITH ANOTHER SHUTOUT
For the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets, offense has been difficult to come by in recent days. Well, for the Mets it’s actually been much longer, but you get the point.
In Tuesday’s series opener, one run was enough for the Cubs to be victorious. The same would be true again on Wednesday, only this time the Cubs went and scored twice in the 11th inning to win 2-0.
How the Cubs rallied was actually quite fitting given how the teams are playing. With runners on first and second and one out, Chris Coghlan laced a single to right field that should have scored a run or loaded of the bases. It did neither. Anthony Rizzo was held at third base while Kris Bryant continued around second base completely unaware that Rizzo wasn’t headed home.
Bryant was tagged out, which seemed to set the stage for another missed opportunity. However, Starlin Castro followed with about a 75-foot infield single to get Rizzo home. Miguel Montero then followed with an RBI single to make it an insurmountable two run lead.
Jon Lester and Bartolo Colon each got a no-decision. Each pitched seven scoreless innings, but perhaps more notable than that, each was 0 for 2 at the plate. Colon lined out to right field with the bases loaded in the second inning in what may have been New York’s best scoring chance.
Want to see more from Wednesday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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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
