Two outs on one swing endemic to this offense
Club on record pace with MLB-leading 125 double plays
SEATTLE — Josh Reddick ran the count even while Yuli Gurriel shuffled to a lead at first base. Gurriel coaxed a four-pitch walk to open the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 10-7 victory over the Mariners.
Seattle’s five-run sixth inning staggered the Astros. They once owned an eight-run lead and, now, searched desperately for insurance. Reddick awaited the third pitch from lefty Zach Duke. The Astros’ lefthanded-hitting outfielder possesses an .894 OPS against southpaws.
Duke offered a sinker. It sat down and in. Reddick squared to bunt and the baseball rose feebly into the air. Duke caught the pop-
up for the first out, keeping Gurriel at first base. Reddick retreated to the dugout in dismay, perhaps resigned to what would follow.
Martin Maldonado arrived and grounded the second pitch he saw to Andrew Romine. The shortstop started a 6-4-3 double play, a scene seen almost habitually throughout the Astros’ season.
Maldonado’s double play was the Astros’ 125th of the season. Wednesday was the team’s 127th game. Eighty-one have featured at least one ground-ball double play. During Tuesday’s 3-2 win in Seattle, the Astros grounded into a six, setting a single-game franchise record.
“I don’t think it’s frustrating at all if you win,” Reddick said. “I’ll take eight of them if we get a win, especially right now. I think it can be frustrating at times, but, at the end of the day, we got a W.”
Entering Thursday, the Astros had grounded into 19 more double plays than any other major league team.
Seven Astros have grounded into at least 10 double plays. With 35 games remaining in the regular season, the club remains on pace to break the franchise’s 18-yearold single-season record.
The 2000 club bounced into 154 double plays. If this team can’t usurp that number, it certainly will set a new high-water mark during manager A.J. Hinch’s fouryear tenure.
“We’re a team that generally tries to hit the ball in the air,” Hinch said Wednesday. “So the mistake on the ground is obviously frustrating.”
Finding one concrete cause of double plays is difficult. Hinch acknowledged the lineup is being pitched more heavily inside than in seasons past. Some players, in turn, have elevated their groundball rate.
Gurriel’s 47 percent groundball rate is the highest of his major league career, according to FanGraphs.
He is responsible for a teamhigh 20 double plays, but he also possesses the highest batting average of any qualified major leaguer with runners who are in scoring position.
“We have some hitters that have hit into a lot of double plays that we know hit the ball on the ground a lot, whether it’s Yuli or (Evan) Gattis, which turn into double plays,” Hinch said. “Some turn into base hits. Yuli hit a ground ball up the middle (in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game) that we’re high-fiving everyone afterwards when it gets through.
“That was a double-play ball, too; it just wasn’t hit at anybody. That’s just the game.”
The game is sometimes unkind. And assessing this propensity solely as a detriment is somewhat disingenuous. Potent offenses produce baserunners aplenty.
Eleven major league teams have 100 or more double plays. Three — the Astros, Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox — would qualify for the postseason if the season ended Thursday. The Red Sox boast the sport’s best record at 90-39.
All three of those offenses possess the top-three OPS+ figures in baseball. All three rank among the top eight in runs per game, too.
The Astros’ rate is still, well, astronomical. Frustration can be palpable, especially during a game like Tuesday’s. Calls for more bunting or an occasional hit and run — “small ball,” as Hinch described it — fill social media.
The manager was wary, noting that employing such a strategy is not infallible. Take, for instance, Reddick’s bunt in Wednesday’s game.
“I don’t know, maybe we do consider it more, but that doesn’t eliminate double plays,” Hinch said. “If they throw a ball, if we get thrown out stealing, if we don’t find sort of our ‘A’ swing at that time, it doesn’t make the situation that much better.”