Astros back to their winning ways, beat Angels to start important AL clash
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.
The question was, which Houston Astros team would we see this week, as they hosted the wild-card hopeful Los Angeles Angels: The Astros that were the surprise first-place team of the AL West most of the season? Or the Astros that had gone 2-8 on a rough early September roadtrip and let the Texas Rangers leapfrog them in the standings?
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For the sake of everybody in Houston, we saw those first Astros on Monday night in the series opener. The Astros, powered by their Rookie of the Year candidate and their Cy Young candidate, beat the Angels 6-3. It was their third win in a row and a sign that Houston could be back to its winning ways.
The Astros got another nice outing from ace Dallas Keuchel, who improved to 18-8 by tossing 7.2 innings of one-run ball. He scattered six hits and struck out six. The big-swinging Astros got homers from Evan Gattis and Carlos Correa, their impressive rookie shortstop, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs on the eve of his 21st birthday.
Astros skipper A.J. Hinch wasn’t shouting, “We’re back” from the top of Minute Maid Park, but he was at least acknowledging his team’s improved fortunes.
The Rangers were idle on Monday night, so the Astros are now a game back in the AL West and holding a three-game lead for the second AL wild-card spot. The Angels are 3.5 back.
BLUE JAYS MAKE A STATEMENT VS. YANKEES
In the start of what’s considered the biggest home series for the Toronto Blue Jays since 1993, they made a statement. David Price pitched masterfully, their high-powered offense jumped on the New York Yankees early and the Blue Jays won a game that seemed much more decisive than the 4-2 final score.
The Blue Jays, who are looking for their first playoff spot in 21 years, are trying to fend off the Yankees for first place in the AL East. With Monday’s win, the Blue Jays now hold a 3.5 game lead.
Price, who the Blue Jays picked up at the trade deadline, threw seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits, striking out seven and retiring the final 14 batters he faced. The Jays scored three in the first inning off Yankees’ starter Adam Warren and, considering Price’s dominance, that was enough.
METS REBOUND TO SHUTOUT BRAVES
Coming off their disappointing Sunday night loss and a fresh round of Matt Harvey controversy, the New York Mets did the best possible thing in their series opener Monday night against the Atlanta Braves. They won 4-0, blanking the Braves and changing the conversation, at least for a few hours.
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Jon Niese pitched six scoreless innings for the Mets and the bullpen did its job (unlike Sunday night) to keep the Braves off the scoreboard. New York got three hits out of Yoenis Cespedes and two RBIs from Daniel Murphy.
On the other side, Braves starter Shelby Miller took yet another loss. He threw six innings and allowed just two runs, but dropped his 15th straight decision, making his record to 5-16. Miller, however, has a 3.00 ERA, which is 10th best in the NL. Hard-knock season for Miller.
JEFF SAMARDZIJA THROWS A GEM FOR WHITE SOX
There’s not too many reasons to care about the Chicago White Sox playing the Detroit Tigers this time of year, but White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija gave us one Monday. In the first game of a doubleheader, Samardzija threw a one-hit shutout to beat the Tigers 2-0.
The lone hit came from Victor Martinez, who led off the fifth inning with a single. Otherwise, Samardzija was spotless. He struck out six, didn’t walk anyone and finished the game on just 88 pitches. The kids on the Internet call that a Maddux — a shutout of less than 100 pitchers, named after Greg.
The White Sox swept the doubleheader, taking Game 2 by the score of 3-2.
Want to see more from Monday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
