Offense returns with rout of Rays in opener
There’s a school of thought in baseball that when the players do their part in the first half, it’s incumbent upon management to reward them with roster reinforcements for the stretch run.
In the 104 games they played before Monday afternoon’s nonwaiver trade deadline, the Astros merely jumped out to a record 10½ games better than the nextbest American League team.
But if general manager Jeff Luhnow’s lack of a significant trade Monday deflated the clubhouse, it didn’t manifest itself in the Astros’ series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays at Minute Maid Park. In a 14-7 win, their juggernaut offense continued to produce as it has all season.
MVP candidate Jose Altuve capped an incredible July with a .485 batting average, an individual Astros record for any calendar month. He had 48 hits, the most by any Astro since Lance Berkman’s
49 in May 2008, and improved his season average to a major league-best .368 to go with his AL-leading on-base percentage (.430).
“I don’t know how quickly they turn around the player of the month award,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “but they can bring it down to Houston.”
The Astros chased Rays starter Alex Cobb (9-7) after three innings by scoring three times in the second and five times in the third. They drove in all but one of their first eight runs with two outs.
Jake Marisnick and Derek Fisher took Cobb deep in back-to-back at-bats with two outs in the third. Marisnick homered again in the fifth off Chase Whitley to secure his second multihomer game of the season and of his career. He drove in five runs, capping his evening with an eighth-inning double off Jesus Sucre, the Rays’ backup catcher.
“The schedule doesn’t change. Our job is to play our (butt) off,” Hinch said before the game when questioned about the trade deadline. “I can’t say that enough. It’s not to play fantasy GM or fantasy owner or fantasy anything. Our job is to play tonight’s game, and we’ve been really good at that for the entire season.”
Monday’s output improved the Astros’ combined slugging percentage to .503, which if sustained over a full season would be the best in recorded major league history. Their .859 OPS would match the fourth-best all time, behind the 1927, 1930 and 1936 New York Yankees.
Their 11 players with double-digit homers matches a major league record. Fisher, who has three homers in 41 at-bats, could make it 12.
Fisher makes case
Fisher, who had three hits out of the leadoff spot Monday, figures to play regularly. The Astros cleared a path for the 23-year-old lefthanded-hitting outfielder to remain at the major league level the rest of the season when they traded Nori Aoki on Monday in the three-player trade that brought them lefthander Francisco Liriano.
“I’ve been grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given up to this point,” Fisher said. “I’ll continue to play as hard as I can to help this team win games.”
Charlie Morton (9-4) followed up his stellar start in Philadelphia last week with six innings of two-run ball. He allowed two hits, one a two-run homer by Corey Dickerson in the third inning, the first of two Dickerson hit.
With the lead, Hinch pulled Altuve at the start of the seventh, seizing an opportunity to get his star player off his feet.
Altuve’s .485 eclipsed the previous franchise-best average in a calendar month of .476, set by Richard Hidalgo in September 2000.
“I feel good,” Altuve said. “Obviously I had a good month. I’m just trying to do the same every time I go to home plate. If I play here or if I play on the road, I just need to get on base and I have good hitters behind me that if I’m on base for them they’re going to do some damage.”
Martes struggles
Hinch also used the lopsided score as an opportunity to get work for Reymin Guduan and Michael Feliz. But Feliz, who was demoted last week to Class AA Corpus Christi but didn’t appear in a game, allowed a homer to Dickerson and then exited because of what the team described as “discomfort” in his shoulder.
“We’ll find out over the next day or so,” Hinch said of Feliz’s status. “When we went out there he was complaining of a little pinch in his shoulder. He’ll get evaluated, the doctors will see him and trainers will do their part. But at this point I’m not sure.”
The Rays trimmed the lead against Francis Martes, whose shoddy command led Hinch to burn Chris Devenski. Martes allowed three runs on three hits and two walks. Of his 33 pitches, 16 were strikes. Tony Sipp allowed a solo homer to Lucas Duda in the ninth.