Healthy, refreshed bats go back to work
Offense erases early deficit as Morton settles in
Projected in the winter, developed in spring training and, now, proven through 23 games, the depth of the Astros’ lineup is defining their 2017 season.
After losing two consecutive games in Cleveland, the Astros returned to a home crowd and to formidable form on Friday night: fully loaded and relentless. Down by three runs to start the game, Astros batters would tie the score, lose the lead and then prevail 9-4 over the Oakland Athletics.
They are not relying on a swing-and-pray habit that befalls many teams with upper-deck power. Of the Astros’ 14 hits, only two were home runs. And both — one by a scalding hot Yuli
Gurriel in the seventh and a slump-busting Carlos Correa in the ninth — proved gratuitous. A clutch smattering of hard balls on the ground and line drives made the Astros’ nine seem like an army. Nori Aoki was the only starter without a hit.
With George Springer galloping back from hamstring discomfort that cost him four starts, Jose Altuve shaking off shoulder stiffness that sidelined him for two, and Carlos Beltran refreshed from a day off, they restored order.
“No matter what you prepare for, you don’t plan on having a bench of Beltran, Springer and Altuve,” manager A.J. Hinch said before the game. “That looks awkward and feels awkward when I write it.”
The comeback victory put Hinch at ease.
“That felt good,” he said with a smile after the game. “Especially since the two guys that had the best game, I didn’t mention: Gurriel and (Evan) Gattis. … When we have our full team intact, we have a long lineup. We just keep coming at you.”
‘A grit factor’
Starter Charlie Morton looked headed for another evening of jams, or worse, when he hit a batter, surrendered a single and then served up a three-run homer to left fielder Khris Davis in the top of the first inning. Then the Astros responded by erasing the deficit with three consecutive two-out hits. Beltran squibbed a ball just past the pitcher, Gurriel returned a pitch up the middle and Gattis sliced a ground-rule double.
“There are teams that score runs, and there are teams that are gritty,” Morton said. “There’s a grit factor in this team that I’ve seen before on teams that are winners, that squeak it out no matter what.”
When Davis launched his second opposite-field home run in the third inning, the Astros came through with another two-out, run-scor- ing single to tie the game 4-4. Initially leveraging runners on the corners with no outs, Aoki struck out looking — a rarity — and Alex Bregman got caught stealing for a double play. Then Springer drove in Gattis from third by hustling out a grounder that the shortstop fielded deep. His hamstring did not hold him back.
“That resiliency, that toughness of that at-bat was big,” Hinch said. “It gave us the momentum.”
Morton settled in after that. Then he surged.
“The offense coming through tonight,” Morton said. “It’s much easier to pitch aggressively when you know you’re in the game.”
His uninspiring beginning would lead to a career-best 12 strikeouts. He pitched seven innings, his most this season, without a walk. For all of his trouble in five starts, Morton has shown consistency in stranding runners. Batters are 6-for-30 (.200) against him with runners in scoring position.
In the fifth, the Astros took a lead they would not surrender. Beltran reached on an error and Gurriel lined a double to the wall. Then Gattis ripped a onehopper that bounced over the shortstop’s glove and into left field, which drove in Beltran and knocked starter Jharel Cotton out of the game. Bregman followed with a sacrifice fly, off an 0-2 pitch, which sent Gurriel home.
After batting .125 through his first eight games, Gurriel is emerging as the hottest hitter in baseball. He went 3-for-4 on Friday, with a single, double and a home run into the Crawford Boxes that made the score 7-4. He drove in two runs and raised his batting average to .347.
Preserving the lead
Luke Gregerson offered the A’s a chance in the eighth. He gave up two singles, and designated hitter Ryon Healy approached as the potential tying run. Healy belted a sailing fly to right field.
Josh Reddick raced to the warning track to snare Healy’s fly back-handed and crashed into the wall to preserve the lead.
Minutes later, Correa made the mood comfier in Minute Maid Park. He appeared to cock his bat before he laid into an 88-mph inside fastball for a two-RBI double. He slowed into second and clapped emphatically.
The Astros are 11-3 against AL West opponents this season.
“I don’t want to fall in the habit of falling behind the way we have in the first month, but this month will convince our players that we were never out of it,” Hinch said. “We’ve got good hitters throughout that lineup. That gives me comfort that we’re not going to try to do too much. We’re not going to try to overswing. We do have some power. But we don’t have to rely on solely getting back from deficit with a long-ball.
“We just got to keep coming at you.”