‘Home’ cooking not on the menu
Fiers coughs up eight runs over only four innings while bullpen gives up four more during blowout
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In the quiet confines of their temporary home Tuesday night, the Astros were doomed by their pitching.
No. 5 starter Mike Fiers was thrashed by the Texas Rangers in a 12-2 loss at Tropicana Field, where the Astros were dispatched for their home games in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The instrastate rivals will play twice more at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, on Wednesday night and on Thursday afternoon.
The defeat dropped the Astros to 79-52, just 4½ games ahead of the Cleveland Indians (74-56) for best record in the American League. They will send ace Dallas Keuchel to the mound Wednesday as they attempt to even the series.
“It’s just different being in this ballpark and playing a different team (than the Rays),” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “But once the competition starts … we’ve seen the Rangers, we’re familiar with the surroundings here, we’re familiar with them.”
Starting pitching proved the Astros’ undoing in Tuesday’s series opener,
which drew an announced crowd of 3,485.
Fiers was lit up for eight runs on eight hits in only four innings. The Rangers (65-66) broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third, the biggest strike a two-run homer by Joey Gallo. They plated four more runs in the fourth, two on a single by Adrian Beltre.
“Just a tough day for me,” Fiers said.
Fiers’ ineffectiveness turned it into essentially a bullpen game for the Astros. It got so out of reach for the “home team” that rookie third baseman J.D. Davis pitched the ninth inning. (Davis, who closed at Cal State Fullerton, hit 91 mph in a perfect frame.)
Rangers lefthander Martin Perez shut down the Astros’ offense over seven innings of two-run ball. Alex Bregman accounted for three of the Astros’ eight hits.
The Astros’ bullpen didn’t fare well, either.
Francis Martes surrendered three runs in the fifth on a blast by Shin-Soo Choo to left field and completed only one inning of relief. Tyler Clippard allowed a run in the eighth, the third consecutive outing in which he has yielded at least a run after not giving up one in his first four appearances for the Astros.
The lone positive development of the night for the Astros’ pitching staff (aside from Davis) was the return of Will Harris, who pitched in the majors for the first time since July 5 after missing time because of a bone bruise. Harris required only eight pitches to retire Beltre, Gallo and Carlos Gomez in a perfect sixth inning.
Tropicana Field did its best to make the Astros feel at home. The ballpark played the position players’ individual walk-up songs when they came to bat and also played “Deep in the Heart of Texas” during the seventh-inning stretch.
Hinch saluted the fans who attended.
“They donated their time and their money just to come out to a unique series,” he said. “I really appreciate the people here that did that.”