Astros face flurry of Rays relievers before prevailing in 9th
talent, continued to flout convention Monday.
They started righthanded reliever Ryne Stanek. After his perfect five-up, five-down outing, lefty Johnny Venters, righthander Matt Andriese, southpaw Jose Alvarado, righthander Diego Castillo and righthander Chaz Roe got the Rays through the eighth inning with a 4-3 lead.
The Astros, meanwhile, rode Gerrit Cole, one of the thoroughbreds in their elite stable, for seven innings and used Will Harris and Collin McHugh to complete nine.
In this battle between the team with the fewest innings pitched by starting pitchers and the team with the most, the six Rays pitchers outdueled Cole, but Tampa Bay’s seventh arm ran out of bullets.
Injuries and a dearth of experienced starters have inspired Rays manager Kevin Cash to coin the new role of “opener” for relievers who begin games. Cash has stitched nine innings together based on short but favorable matchups between pitchers and batters of the same handedness.
The experiment has had mixed results. In 632⁄3 innings, the openers have 55 strikeouts, a .226 opposing batting average and a 5.23 ERA.
"We faced a legit arm to start the game," Bregman said, his eyes widening.
Stanek, who averages 98.2 mph on his fastball, started his second game in three days.
“There’s not a lot of guys coming out of the gate throwing 100 mph,” Cash said.
Cash added that, coincidentally, the Astros would pitch in this series two starters in Cole and Verlander who unleash the same rarefied velocity.
“For us to have a reliever to do that and maybe throw (opponents) off for that first time through, we value that a lot,” Cash said. “Times through the order has been the point of emphasis through this.”
Cole made his first time through the order a slog. He nibbled too far off the edges with several pitches and missed by greater margins with others.
“We’d never really seen Gerrit Cole without command with his breaking ball,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Every walk seemed to hurt him.”
Cole, after issuing his first walk, surrendered a two-run homer to Wilson Ramos in the first inning and walked three consecutive batters in the third to set up the first time he had pitched with the bases loaded this season.
One of the best starters at stranding runners, Cole struck out C.J. Cron, but he allowed Joey Wendle to slap a two-run single through the infield to put the Rays up 4-0.
After that 30-pitch inning, Cole settled in. He retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced without allowing a hit.
Astros hitters began their climb back against Andriese, the Rays’ third pitcher. Consecutive hits by Altuve, Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel scored Houston’s first run, and a sac fly by Josh Reddick drove in the second.
In the sixth, Altuve doubled and reached third on a missed dive by left fielder Johny Field. Gurriel delivered another RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch pinch-hit Tyler White and Evan Gattis, which did not manufacture runs but forced Cash to make more pitching changes.
“It’s a chess match,” Hinch said. “That’s the way they run their team. We weren’t surprised by any of it.”
A flurry of fielding substitutions followed , including Bregman’s moving from third base to left field.
As a rookie in 2015, Bregman, who does not take outfield practice regularly, lost the Astros a game with an overthrow. He flashed back to that memory when he saw the same pitcher from that day enter the eighth.
“I saw Will Harris coming out of the pen, and I felt bad for him because I was in left field,” Bregman said. “If the ball was hit there, it was going to be a zoo.”
The ball found Bregman in the first at-bat. He dove and missed the line drive, but Harris stranded the runner at second base.
After his two hits with runners in scoring position, Gurriel batted with Altuve on third again in the eighth, but he could not drive in the tying run.
Romo, whom Cash had started in five games as an opener, entered the ninth to close.
Romo walked Marwin Gonzalez on four pitches, served up a single to Max Stassi — who had replaced the pinch hitter Gattis at catcher — and let the runners advance into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Tony Kemp.
After a mound visit to gameplan for George Springer, Ramos reached out to receive Romo’s best pitch, a slider. Springer missed the breaking ball but clipped Ramos’ mitt for a stroke of fortune.
The catcher interference’s call loaded the bases for Bregman and brought the Minute Maid Park crowd of 34,151 to their feet. Moments later, he delivered his teamleading 22nd double to the gap in left-center field.
Teammates poured over the railing to swarm Bregman near third base, wrap him up and ruffle his hair, as they had at Minute Maid Park after his walkoff to win Game 5 of the World Series last October.
“When you see the smile on the other guys’ faces coming after you,” Bregman said, “it’s a really cool moment.”
Bregman did not let it inflate his already healthy ego any further. He sought Harris in the clubhouse cafeteria to laugh together about the gaffe in left field that no one else will remember.