Astros keep rolling along
Fresh off DL, Keuchel masters Orioles.
In his first start in 11 days, Dallas Keuchel didn’t show any signs of rust. Bullish with his sinker, the Astros ace pounded the bottom of the strike zone like he had in his first nine starts. His pitches moved as much as ever.
A low pitch count was the only indication he was fresh off the 10-day disabled list Saturday night at Minute Maid Park. He struck out eight over six innings of one-run ball in the Astros’ 5-2 victory over the reeling Baltimore Orioles. Even after missing a start because of a pinched nerve in his neck, Keuchel became this season’s first eight-game winner.
With an 1.81 earned run average, Keuchel (8-0) is on a better pace through 10 starts than his American League Cy Young Awardwinning campaign of 2015 (1.98 ERA). He ranks second in ERA among major league starters, worse than only Ervin Santana (1.80), the Minnesota Twins righthander the Astros will oppose Monday afternoon at Target Field.
The Astros, who at a major league-best 34-16, surpassed their previous best 50-game start by three wins. They have won all but one of Keuchel’s starts. He’s next in line to pitch Friday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington on an extra day of rest.
“I felt good,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll take the next step and continue to progress and get back to hopefully seven or eight innings.”
Keuchel didn’t pitch deeper Saturday because of his layoff. In his last start before the DL stint, Astros manager A.J. Hinch had pulled Keuchel after only five innings and 70 pitches to preserve the pitcher’s arm in a blowout. For Saturday, Hinch had targeted six innings and 88 pitches. Keuchel went six and 86. Springer goes real deep
Keuchel outdueled fellow lefthander Wade Miley, who needed 100 pitches to complete five innings. The Astros tagged Miley for four runs, two in the first inning and two in the fourth. George Springer and Jose Altuve accounted for four of the eight hits against the Orioles starter, three for extra bases.
Springer provided the biggest swing of the game. It came in the fourth inning, in his third plate appearance against Miley. The leadoff-hitting outfielder looked at three pitches outside the strike zone for balls and fouled off a fastball before obliterating a sinker an estimated 447 feet out to left-center field for his 10th home run of the season.
Altuve, who batted second for just the second time this season, had three hits, including two doubles off Miley. Marwin Gonzalez reached base three more times, improving his on-base plus slugging percentage to a team-best 1.019 in 135 plate appearances.
Keuchel yielded only four hits and issued two walks. He pumped almost exclusively sinkers his first time through Baltimore’s lineup. He had faced the minimum number of batters before walking No. 9 batter Caleb Joseph with two outs in the third. Joey Rickard and Welington Castillo made Keuchel pay with consecutive singles, the latter of which plated Balitmore’s lone run against him. Mixing up his pitches
On the second and third times through the lineup, Keuchel incorporated more pitches inside, the occasional cutter and increased the usage of his slider and changeup. He induced seven groundouts, two for inning-ending double plays, against only one flyout in his six innings. Six of his strikeouts came on his sinker.
“That was probably the best (sinker) he’s had all year, and that’s saying something because it’s been locked in for all of his starts,” said catcher Brian McCann, who returned from the seven-day concussion DL on Saturday. “Once they got looking over the plate, he was able to slow them down.
“That’s what makes Dallas so good. He can pitch to your weaknesses, and you’re going to show your tendencies. The hitters are going to show what they want to do, and we can counter it.”
Said Keuchel of his heavy sinker usage: “When they’re not really making an adjustment to one pitch, why throw anything else?”
On his current trajectory, Keuchel will be a candidate to start another All-Star Game come July. Through 69 2⁄3 innings he has allowed 45 hits and 16 walks against 62 strikeouts. Opponents have a combined .186 batting average and .522 OPS against him.
At this point in his Cy Young season, those numbers read .190 and .507. His major league-best 67.6 ground-ball percentage is significantly better than the 61.7 percent he had in the 2015 regular season.
“One of the things that makes Dallas so special is how he can adjust,” Hinch said. “Tonight, having not pitched in (11) days, he went in one way and then as the game progressed he adjusted to what they were doing to him.
“He just has ways to answer every challenge, and that’s what makes him special.”