Reddick sparkles as much as jewelry with 2 HRs, 6 RBIs
Monday afternoon, Josh Reddick entered the Astros clubhouse with his iPhone and an idea. His first five games were an exercise in futility. His offense sputtered. Twelve plate appearances produced one hit.
So he turned to Twitter, mimicking St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler — mired in a similar slide — and his post from earlier that day.
“I will get a hit,” the players wrote, repeating the sentence until the application’s 280-character limit was exhausted. Monday, he singled. Tuesday, he won a game. Thrice the shaggy outfielder made a huge impact on the Astros’ 10-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles — twice with his bat and once with a catch against the same right-field wall he poked both of his home runs over.
His sixth-inning, tworun homer emphatically extinguished a 1-for-11 start to his season for which he turned to social media, giving his team a one-run lead.
His seventh-inning grand slam turned another one-run lead to five, the submission for a pesky Baltimore club that saw its bullpen implode.
Perhaps this was fitting, a man whose cult following grew due to his love of another ring — one where yelling “woo” is widely accepted — becoming the hero on, of all nights, ring night.
“Josh Reddick had quite a day,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “On a day that was a ton of twists and turns and game changers, he was the biggest one.”
The Astros trailed twice and coughed up another lead in the seventh. But George Springer laced an RBI double to recapture the lead at 5-4 before Reddick stepped to the plate.
Move backfires
Orioles manager Buck Showalter summoned lefthander Nestor Cortes Jr. from his bullpen to face the lefthanded-hitting Reddick.
Reddick jumped ahead 3-0. He dropped his bat on the fourth pitch, an outside 88.5 mph four-seam fastball. Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo deemed it a strike.
Cortes countered with the same pitch, at the same velocity, two throws later. Reddick swung, sending it into his bullpen.
“He can handle all kinds of pitching and obviously early in the season, he’s taken some pretty good swings and hasn’t got a ton of hits until he sent out the famous tweet,” Hinch said. “That’s what I kept saying on the bench. He came through with a really big swing in a big moment.”
Reddick’s six RBIs matched his career high. Not since Jose Altuve on July 24, 2016 had an Astro reached that threshold. Not since Aug. 3, 2014 had Reddick smashed two home runs in a game.
The Astros required both on a night on which its spectacular early-season start was, if only slightly, countered.
The Astros committed two errors, both allowing a go-ahead run to score. Justin Verlander equaled the worst outing by an Astros starter in the first six games, yielding three earned runs while unable to complete the sixth inning.
Assigning Verlander’s start “worst” by a member of the Astros’ rotation member is perhaps deceitful but, nonetheless, statistically accurate. He struck out nine and walked one. He permitted four runs, three earned. He retired the side in order only once and allowed an Oriole reach second base in four of his six innings.
Seventy-four of Verlander’s 103 pitches were strikes. Against a homerun-prone lineup, his fastball command wavered. Just 20 of his 57 four-seamers were either swinging or called strikes.
Six others were put in play. Two were home runs.
A third very nearly went out. With two aboard, Trey Mancini launched a ball to Reddick in the fourth inning. None were out and the Astros led 3-1, a lead Reddick could not add to one inning earlier.
Videos prove helpful
Reddick ended the third inning with a harmless dribbler to first. The Astros had loaded the bases with one out and mustered one run. Halfway up the first-base line, Reddick flung his bat toward the dugout in disgust.
“Wasn’t really feeling myself,” Reddick said. “I went down and watched a couple videos and I tried to slow things down. I was moving a little too fast with my lower half and I was able to slow things down and it worked out.”
One-half inning later, here was Reddick. He started back on Mancini’s blast. Verlander wavered, having issued a double and single preceding this rocket. Reddick tracked the flight of the baseball.
“He hit it good,” Astros catcher Brian McCann said. “But the way he took the angle, he ran straight to the wall and made the play. He’s been doing that a long time.”
The right fielder reached his right hand into the air. His back knocked against the green padding and red grocery store advertisement. His glove soared above the yellow line atop thewall, bouncing among the eager fans anticipating the home run he snatched from the air.
They need not worry. Reddick would send another two their way.