2 STRIKES? NO PROBLEM
Pitch-recognition skills, deep lineup have given Astros noticeable edge against adversary on way to 2-0 lead
Two strikes? No problem for the Astros through the first two games of their best-of-five American League Division Series with Boston.
A batter typically is most disadvantaged with two strikes. He is less likely to see a good pitch to hit, extend the at-bat or increase his contact percentage. His chances of being productive dwindle.
The Red Sox, who have twice lost 8-2 in the series, have discovered that the Astros are atypical.
Boston players and manager John Farrell acknowledged the Astros finished the regular season leading the majors in every significant offensive category. The Astros scored more (5.53 runs per game) and struck out less (17.3 percent) than any other team. They also led with a .596 OPS in two-strike counts.
In the ALDS, Red Sox pitchers have lost leverage in counts that should favor them considerably. The Astros are batting .263 (10for-38) with two strikes. Three of those hits came after the batter went down 0-2, including the first of Jose Altuve’s three home runs in Game 1.
By showing less stress and more relentlessness, the Astros seem to have psyched out the Red Sox before Game 3 begins Sunday.
“Any mistake that we’ve made in these past two games, they’ve made us pay,” Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz said after completing only two innings in Game 2.
Added Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts: “We can’t go out and bang like them. We can’t go out and do a whole lot of things that they can do.”
“We haven’t done anything right,” Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. Whole greater than parts
The Astros’ hitters could put up impressive numbers were they another team, but their combined talents have formed a juggernaut because manager A.J. Hinch and his staff have indoctrinating a unified approach for lineups: recognize pitches headed out of the strike zone, do not chase them and force the pitcher to throw something more hittable.
“I keep getting asked about 2015 to ’16 to ’17 and how the improvement in the offensive production’s come, and some of that is hitters getting better,” said Hinch, who is in his third year as Astros manager.
Hinch mentioned the progress of second-year third baseman Alex Bregman, former Cuban star Yuli Gurriel and backup catcher Evan Gattis. This trio often is not lauded like the franchise’s superstar core, but each player punished the Red Sox with two-strike hits.
Bregman jump-started the Astros’s 8-2 win in Game 1 with a homer on Chris Sale’s boomerang slider. He later let three of Sale’s changeups sail low-andaway for balls.
Sale got ahead 0-2 on Gattis. Gattis then laid off sliders headed for his back foot until he swung one that stayed a bit higher, around his knees. Gattis hammered the pitch off the left-field wall for a double.
Gurriel worked a 10-pitch atbat against reliever Austin Maddox that ended with a single off a hanging changeup.
“If you can control the strike zone, you can make good decisions on what to swing at,” Hinch said. “That’s the key. And it’s really hard to do at this level. It’s not that simple as just saying, ‘Hey, swing at strikes and take the balls.’ That’s cool when you’re young and in little league and there’s not as elite pitching. But for us, we work really hard at pitch selection and recognizing the pitches that we want to swing at that we can do damage at.
“Some of that is swinging at strikes and taking the balls. Some of it is taking strikes. You have to take some really, really tough strikes that you could normally put in play, but you’re not going to do anything (productive) with it.” Closely guarded secret
Hinch would not share exactly how the Astros teach pitchrecognition: “Some stuff we do behind the scenes to be able to recognize the difference between a fastball and a breaking ball, breaking ball and a changeup. So that’s about as far as I’ll go with you.”
For decades, teams have had players call out a letter or color they spot on tennis balls fired out of pitching machines at up to 140 mph. More recently, the Cubs garnered attention for evaluating reaction time of players through a baseball simulation that resembles a video game. The player watches the simulation and hits a button to indicate when he would swing at the pitch.
Trade secrets aside, the Astros have turned the ALDS into a video game with their 16 runs and 24 hits through two games.
“There were some opportunities that we needed to capitalize on,” Betts said. “Where they do, we didn’t.”
Betts did not stick to one quality of the Astros’ offense that has vexed the Red Sox.
“All of it,” Betts said. “They don’t strike out much. They put it in play a lot. One to nine, they can just bang. The way their lineup is built, I’m sure it’s tough to pitch to.”
“Some teams you can make mistakes and get away with them,” said Addison Reed, who surrendered a double to Carlos Correa and a single to Gattis in Game 2. “This team, they’re not going to miss any mistakes. It’s a good lineup. Even when guys come off the bench, there’s no weak spots.”
Hinch pinch-hit Carlos Beltran to face Craig Kimbrel, one of baseball’s best closers, at the end of the Game 2 blowout. Kimbrel went ahead 0-2 with an 89-mph curveball and 99-mph fastball. Beltran, batting from the left side, proceeded to hammer the third pitch, a hanging curve, for a single.
“There’s not many breathers in this lineup, if there are at all,” Farrell said. “But that’s on the pitchers.”