Musgrove bounces back in Astros win
No. 4 starter leaves shaky starts behind him, turns in scoreless 4-hit effort over 7 innings
Jake Marisnick and Carlos Beltran each homer to back a solid start by Joe Musgrove, and the Astros beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0.
Glimpses of the Joe Musgrove who reemerged Friday night at Minute Maid Park had been fleeting. The Astros’ No. 4 starter carried into his 10th start of the season an unsightly 5.63 ERA. The pinpoint command on which he thrives had eluded him.
But in a 2-0 series-opening victory over the Baltimore Orioles, Musgrove was simply dominant. The second-year Astros righthander had by far his best start of the season, pitching seven scoreless innings in which he faced three batters more than the minimum.
Musgrove allowed four hits and didn’t issue a walk while preserving his spot in the back end of the Astros’ rotation for next week’s series against the Minnesota Twins. He commanded his
pitches as well as he has all season and complemented his fastball with a sharp slider that seemed to improve as his evening went on. His six strikeouts matched a season high.
Solo home runs by Jake Marisnick and Carlos Beltran off Orioles starter Kevin Gausman proved enough offense for the Astros (33-16), who extended their lead in the American League West to nine games. Chris Devenski performed a high-wire act to preserve Musgrove’s win in a tense eighth inning, and Ken Giles shut the door in the ninth.
For Musgrove, the outing marked his first longer than 61⁄3 innings this season. Along with his fastball and slider, he had his changeup working and also mixed in a dozen curveballs. He finished the seventh inning at 102 pitches, at which point he was met at the bottom step of the dugout by the extended right hand of manager A.J. Hinch.
“I thought his execution of his secondary pitches was the difference in the game,” Hinch said. “Against this lineup, you can’t stay in a pattern and you can’t just feed them fastballs. His breaking balls were both pretty good. But the conviction he pitched with tonight was pretty special.”
Musgrove (4-4), who improved his ERA to 4.89 over 531⁄3 innings, scattered the four hits he yielded over four innings. Three were doubles, two off the bat of Manny Machado. A swinging bunt down the third-base line by J.J. Hardy signified the other. The Astros played clean defense behind their starter.
All but two of the 14 atbats in which he reached a two-strike count, Musgrove finished the batter off, which had been an issue over his previous nine starts. The four baserunners he allowed marked the fewest in any start in his young career.
“I’ve had a lot of cut on my ball lately and tonight I feel like I was able to get rid of that and drive the ball through the spots I wanted to,” he said. “I was able to command both sides of the plate with the fastball, and that made it a lot easier for me to establish both sides where they can’t really eliminate a side of the plate.
“It opened up the slider a lot. The changeup was good tonight. I really kind of had all of my pitches there.”
Still, the Astros’ lead was in jeopardy in the eighth. Hyun Soo Kim ambushed Devenski’s first-pitch fastball for a double, and Jonathan Schoop singled on a ball down the third-base line that Alex Bregman was able to keep in the infield, which Hinch would later describe as “arguably the play of the game.”
Devenski faced a basesloaded situation with no outs after Evan Gattis misplayed a sacrifice bunt attempt by J.J. Hardy. The Astros catcher first looked to third base and then double-clutched before throwing to first, with Hardy beating his throw. The Orioles’ lineup turned over to the top of the order.
Yet Devenski didn’t waver.
He struck out Seth Smith on three pitches for the first out. Adam Jones skied a fly ball to left field, but Kim dared not test Josh Reddick’s cannon arm. Machado put the ballpark on edge when he drove the first pitch he saw high in the air to right field. George Springer caught it mere steps in front of the wall.
“I just had to bear down and find a way to get it done,” Devenski said.
Musgrove said he was happy to gain back some of the trust of his teammates after his string of bad outings. He has battled inconsistencies in his delivery dating to April and felt like he found “that missing piece” this week through film study and working with Astros pitching coach Brent Strom.
“It’s just kind of me staying gathered over the rubber a little longer opposed to lifting and falling toward the plate, feeling like I’m rushed, feeling like my chest is way forward and I’m trying to catch up with my arm,” Musgrove said. “I felt behind the baseball. I felt like I was able to spin it more. I felt a lot more consistent.”