AWFUL APRIL
7-17 record for April matches Twins for worst in the American League
After a 15-7 start a year ago, Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the A’s leaves a 7-17 stain entering May.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Last April, the Astros shocked the baseball world by storming out to a 15-7 record, the foundation for their 86-win campaign and first postseason appearance in a decade.
This April, their results were stunning for the opposite reason.
A team many expected to contend for a World Series berth closed the book on the season’s first month with a 7-17 record after Saturday afternoon’s 2-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum. Only the rebuilding Atlanta Braves (5-18) have fewer wins than the last-place Astros, who are tied with the Minnesota Twins, their next opponent, for the worst record in the American League.
“April can be over, thankfully,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “(It was) certainly one we’d like to wash away from our memory pretty quickly. Hopefully, we can do that. The calendar turning gives us every reason to forget about this month.”
Saturday’s defeat clinched the Astros’ seventh lost series in eight opportunities, and they enter May yet to win consecutive games. In their latest loss, the bats couldn’t solve Jesse Hahn’s sinking fastball that hovered between 94 and 97 mph. In his first big league start of the season, Hahn yielded only three hits over 62⁄ innings, during which the righthander exhausted just 81 pitches.
Carlos Correa’s oneout double in the seventh inning signified the Astros’ lone extra-base hit. Through six innings, they had mustered only two hits, singles off the bats of Preston Tucker and Jason Castro.
Jose Altuve and Correa worked walks in the ninth inning against Oakland closer Ryan Madson, and Colby Rasmus loaded the bases with a bloop single to center field. But Evan Gattis grounded a cutter to shortstop Marcus Semien, who turned a game-ending double play.
The Astros struggled to lift the ball into the air against Hahn, who induced 12 groundouts to only one fly out.
“He was sinking the ball really good,” Altuve said. “(He was) mixing them away, in. He was throwing 97. Obviously, with that movement, it’s not really easy to hit.” Devenski hangs in
Chris Devenski held his own in his first major league start, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings. He lost his command of the strike zone in the second inning but left the bases loaded to keep the damage to two runs. He also escaped a jam with runners on the corners and just one out in the fourth.
“I felt good. Going out there, I was really excited,” said Devenski, who earned his first start after impressing the Astros over 132⁄ innings of relief. “It just didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”
Devenski issued three walks, all in the second inning, and recorded four strikeouts in a 91-pitch outing.
“I thought he responded and recovered very well and showed a lot of guts,” Hinch said. “He won’t be satisfied because he wants perfection.”
Scott Feldman, bumped to the bullpen for at least a turn in the rotation to make room for Devenski, logged scoreless sixth, seventh and eighth innings in his first relief appearance since 2012. Aggressive from the outset of his outing, the veteran righthand- er retired each of the nine batters he faced while using an efficient 34 pitches. Minus-33 differential
Saturday marked the first time in 24 games this season the Astros were shut out. They scored one run in three games, including an April 15 win over Detroit. Their minus-33 run differential was worst in the AL in April.
“I think everybody’s ready to turn the page,” Feldman said. “Coming off the year we had last year and seeing the talent that we have in this room, we know we’re capable of playing a lot better.
“Maybe with the month switching over to May, some magic will happen, and we’ll get this behind us and play to our capabilities. Because I know that we have the talent to do it.”
So far, the results have yet to show it.