Offensive woes continue in loss to Seattle
Things go downhill quickly after Springer’s leadoff homer as Keuchel’s effort wasted
SEATTLE — Jose Altuve slowed his jog up the first-base line, his popup landing in Dee Gordon’s mitt as another harmless out on a night full of them. He removed his helmet and stared out to the grass before him while another fruitless inning concluded.
They were again under a roofed stadium, now a time zone away, but this was all too familiar. The Astros continued their miserable offensive display, wasting a superb start from their rotation for another loss, 2-1 to the Mariners on Monday night.
George Springer launched a solo home run off Mariners starter James Paxton on the game’s fifth pitch. The team did not muster another extra-base
hit. Two singles, one by Springer, were all it could manage after the homer. After the fifth inning, there was not a hit.
In the last 16 innings, the As-
Astros update
Monday: Mariners 2, Astros 1. Record: 10-7. Today: At Seattle, 9:10 p.m. Starting pitchers: Gerrit Cole (1-0) vs. Mike Leake (2-0). Tv/radio: ATTSW; 790 AM, 850 AM/101.7 FM (Spanish).
tros’ starting pitchers have permitted three earned runs and yielded only nine hits. In return, they’ve received one run and four hits of backing. Justin Verlander’s eightinning magnificence was squandered Sunday night.
Monday it was Dallas Keuchel. He, like Verlander, made few mistakes. Nelson Cruz golfed out a low changeup in the fourth inning to tie the game at one. Verlander ceded a solo shot to Robinson Chirinos on Sunday.
Solo home runs don’t usually beat you, Verlander said afterward.
Right now, for the Astros, they do.
Keuchel was otherwise superb.Nine walks haunted his first three starts. His inability to harness his fastball command, to either his glove or arm side, was troubling. The inefficiency even moreso. Twelve outs last week against Minnesota required 101 pitches. Fifteen against Baltimore a week earlier came after 104.
Monday was a return to form. He spun eight innings of six-hit, one-run baseball on just 96 pitches.
Keuchel worked rapidly, spotting his biting twoseam fastball wherever he pleased. Fifty-five pitches placed him through five scoreless innings. Eleven of his first 15 outs were groundballs.
He allowed three men into scoring position with less than two outs in both the sixth and seventh innings. Only David Freitas scored.
Freitas, the Mariners’ nine-hole hitting catcher, golfed a low changeup into left field for a leadoff double. Keuchel next offered a slider, one that tailed away from lefthanded leadoff hitter Dee Gordon.
Gordon flared it to right field, where the Astros had shaded Springer more toward right center field.
Springer darted toward the baseball. His feet became entangled on the turf and he fell to two knees as the ball landed to his left, one on which Statcast determined Springer had a 0 percent catch probability. Freitas scurried home and Gordon to second.
Their offense was appalling but, nevertheless, the Astros labored James Paxton. He threw 29 pitches in the fourth inning alone. When he exited after the sixth inning, he totalled a season-high 106.
Alas, the Astros produced three hits. Two were singles. The other was Springer’s mammoth home run that led off the game, a missile that departed his bat at 114 mph and landed 455 feet away atop an electronic scoreboard in left field.
For the optimistic it was something of a glimmer of hope, a faint possibility that conceivably the Astros would escape the sickness surrounding it.
The flicker fizzled.