Astros’ virtuoso
Altuve cements place among baseball’s best.
With nine players on the disabled list, the Astros rely on a less-experienced and less-familiar group.
Of the 25 on the roster, nine are rookies or in their second year in the majors.
For most of the season it did not seem to matter who the Astros penciled in. They scored often, pitched well and kept their spot atop the American League.
But Saturday night at Minute Maid Park, the Astros looked off, like a cast mixed with understudies. Clutch hits eluded them. Fielding miscues cost them a lead. A depleted bullpen lost them the game 4-3 in 10 innings to the Toronto Blue Jays before a season-high 41,950 fans.
The teams were partners Monday, when the Blue Jays dealt southpaw starter Francisco Liriano to the Astros, who hope to turn him into an effective reliever against lefthanded hitters.
The experiment failed in Liriano’s two appearances since the trade. In the 10th, Liriano gave up a go-ahead run on a single to lefthanded-hitting Ryan Goins.
“We didn’t win the big moments in this game,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Definitely a winnable game.” Solid start for Morton
Astros starter Charlie Morton pitched seven efficient innings, but he suffered from the sluggish fielding behind him. The Jays capitalized with aggressive baserunning and timely hits.
Fresh off his call-up from Class AAA Fresno, prospect J.D. Davis debuted with a start at third base. Jose Bautista tested Davis with a grounder and ran it out for an infield single to lead off the game.
Josh Donaldson followed with a double off the center-field wall, and when Josh Reddick bobbled the carom, Bautista scored the first run.
Reddick responded in the first with a two-run homer to put the Astros ahead 2-1.
With the bases loaded and one out in the second, Bautista grounded to Davis again. Davis seemed to have time to attempt an inningending double play, but he threw to first, which let Steve Pearce score the tying run.
In the third, Tyler White, batting ninth, hit his third home run in two days to regain the Astros’ lead 3-2.
Bautista continued his pesky production with another infield single in the seventh. White had scooped up Bautista’s grounder and thrown home, but when catcher Brian McCann caught the ball he did not attempt to tag Kevin Pillar, who scored to tie the game.
“Looking back,” McCann said, “I probably should have tried for the play at home, but I thought he was going to get in their easy.”
“We got to get an out there, somewhere,” Hinch said. “Not a good play.”
Morton finished after 92 pitches. He struck out five of seven batters with his curveball, which he said he has used more lately.
“His breaking ball was really good,” Hinch said. “He got some really funny swings out of some righthanded hitters lefthanded hitters.”
Morton cleaned up some of the messes in the field with strikeouts that stranded runners. The Blue Jays were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and had one extra-base against him. and
“That’s probably the strongest he’s been at the end of an outing,” Hinch said.
In the eighth, Astros reliever Chris Devenski got two outs but then walked consecutive batters and sent them into scoring position with a wild pitch.
Ken Giles had to come in to end the jam. Pillar hit the first pitch from Giles for a shallow fly to the outfield that shortstop Alex Bregman ran down for the out. McCann in a slump
In the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied at 3 and Bregman on first, McCann McCann extended his 6-for-40 slump with a fly ball to Bautista.
“I need to start driving the baseball and getting big hits,” McCann said. “I didn’t do it for the month of July. I need to get it going.”
The Astros only had five hits in the game.
In Thursday’s loss to the Rays, Liriano gave up two runs and recorded one out. He did not redeem himself in the 10th inning Saturday. Liriano walked Rob Refsnyder, who stole second base.
Liriano had a good chance to exit unscathed when Goins — who was hitting .184 against lefties — batted with two outs. But Liriano missed high with a slider, which Goins poked into left field. Derek Fisher then forced McCann out of position with an off-line throw that helped Refsnyder score the winning run.