AL West joy ride continues with win
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Now comes a non-American League West portion of the Astros’ schedule.
After capping five weeks of beating up on their division with a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, the Astros (22-11) will play their next 22 games against teams outside the AL West. The stretch should prove an early-season litmus test, especially their matchups against the New York Yankees (19-9), Baltimore Orioles (20-10) and Cleveland Indians (17-13).
If April and the first part of May are any indication, these Astros should run away with the division. After claiming Sunday’s series finale at Angel Stadium, they are 17-6 against the Angels, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers
and Oakland Athletics, all of whom have records worse than .500.
The first AL team to 21 wins, the Astros are off to their best start through 32 games since 2004. They’ve never started a season better. Their offense has allowed them to circumvent poor starts like the one they received Sunday from Mike Fiers. When scoring four or more runs, they are 17-2.
“We have to just go out there and continue to do this,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “We don’t rely on one player. We’re a team. It seems like every day a different guy has the belt. That means that every day a different player comes up with the big hit.”
It was Altuve’s turn Sunday. After recharging on his 27th birthday while sitting out most of Saturday’s game, he launched a momentumshifting three-run homer off Angels starter Matt Shoemaker in Sunday’s third inning to turn a onerun deficit into a two-run Astros lead.
.419 hitter on road
The homer, Altuve’s fifth of the season, atoned for his getting picked off first base to end the first inning with Carlos Correa at the plate. Altuve is batting a blistering .419 (18-for-43) on the road this season compared to .236 (17-for-72) at home.
His big swing keyed a four-run third inning, which helped the Astros overcome five innings of three-run ball from Fiers. Will Harris pitched two pivotal scoreless innings of relief to bridge the gap to closer Ken Giles, who converted his eighth save in nine opportunities.
The Astros had only six hits — three fewer than in Saturday’s 2-1 loss — but made them count. Alex Bregman doubled and scored on a Josh Reddick single to kick-start the third. Evan Gattis tacked on an insurance run in the seventh with a solo homer off Shoemaker.
Fiers again walked the tightrope between disaster and simply a bad outing. The Astros’ No. 5 starter exited with a 4-3 lead despite needing 94 pitches to get through an inefficient five innings. The three earned runs he allowed left him with a 5.64 ERA. He has thrown only 301⁄3 innings over his six starts.
The long ball continues to plague Fiers. He allowed two Sunday, both to Yunel Escobar and one on his first pitch of the game, an 88 mph fastball. The 14 homers he has served up are the most in the majors. No other American League pitcher has allowed 10.
San Diego’s Jered Weaver has surrendered a National League-worst 12 in 21⁄3 more innings pitched than Fiers.
The Astros’ leash on Fiers has to be shortening, but their lack of alternatives offers no simple solution. Collin McHugh, who played catch Friday for the first time since he was diagnosed with an elbow impingement, probably can’t be counted on until the second half. Long reliever Brad Peacock started the season strong but hasn’t looked the same in his last two outings. Brady Rodgers underwent Tommy John surgery last week.
The best short-term answer might be prospect David Paulino, who’s nearing his return to Class AAA Fresno after suffering a bone bruise in his elbow during spring training. Top prospect Francis Martes should debut in the majors this season, but he has issued 12 walks in his first 121⁄3 innings in Class AAA.
Fiers labors
So at least for now, Fiers will remain. In his five innings Sunday, he allowed four hits and four walks. He labored through a 39-pitch second inning in which Astros manager A.J. Hinch called for James Hoyt to warm in the bullpen. Hoyt was back up at the start of the third, but Fiers managed to complete not only that inning but two more.
Hoyt entered to pitch the sixth and struck out three in a scoreless frame. Harris followed with a perfect seventh in which he threw 15 pitches. Given Luke Gregerson’s recent struggles and Chris Devenski’s unavailability after pitching Friday and Saturday, Hinch sent Harris back out for the eighth.
Gregerson warmed in the eighth but only in case Harris’ pitch count rose well into the 30s and if a certain batter came up. Hinch declined to disclose the identity of that batter, but the scenario he had in mind never came to pass. Harris, who also pitched Saturday, worked around a one-out Luis Valbuena single in a 16-pitch eighth.
The two-inning ap- pearance was Harris’ first since April 12, 2016. Giles, in his first appearance since blowing Friday’s save, struck out two in a perfect ninth.
The Astros are off Monday before a two-game homestand against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday and Wednesday. Looming is a four-game road series that begins Thursday against the Yankees.