BREGMAN MAKES A BIT OF HISTORY
Bregman piles up the milestones as 50th double lifts him to 100 RBIs for season
DETROIT — The baseball exited Alex Bregman’s bat at 103.6 mph, pulled violently into the left-field corner. Jake Marisnick scored with ease. Waved aggressively from first base, George Springer slid ahead of a relay throw. The two runs batted in pushed Bregman’s total to 100.
The Astros took a lead they did not relinquish in Wednesday’s 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The greatest season by a third baseman in Astros history was cemented.
The double was Bregman’s 50th of the season. Before him, no third baseman in major league history had hit 50 doubles and 30 home runs in a season. Albert Pujols in 2012 was the last player who produced such a year.
Fanfare did not greet Bregman’s latest exploit. The 24-yearold clapped his hands at second base and signaled toward the dugout. Postgame commentary focused more on the double’s immediate impact than its historical resonance.
Bregman, who also had a runscoring single in the third inning, is notorious for his focus. His unrelenting preparation is the gene-
sis for his presumptuous nature. Acute awareness of his few shortcomings allows him the drive to ascend the sport’s hierarchy. His first 29 games this season, for instance, produced just a .741 OPS.
“When I do look back, I’m going to look back at April,” Bregman said. “I’m going to look back and say that there’s so much room to improve, that I have to get a lot better.”
His plate discipline is precise. Begin any analysis of his development there. In Bregman’s first two major league seasons, his walk rate did not eclipse 9 percent.
And 143 games into his third, Bregman has walked 85 times, 10 more than he has struck out. His eye is refined. Borderline pitches sail by, and opposing pitchers are pressured to pipe suitable offerings to the Astros’ best hitter.
The Tigers’ Daniel Norris tried high, inside and low. The bat did not leave Bregman’s shoulders. He raced ahead in the count 3-0 during the fifth inning of a onerun game. Bregman received a four-seam fastball that sat on the outside corner. He kept his hands inside on a short swing and pulled the baseball into the left-field corner.
“It was a good day,” Bregman said. “Just really happy to have (hit 50 doubles) but also just really happy to help this team win another game. A great road trip for us, some tough travel to deal with, but at the end of the day we grinded through it and found a way to win the games.”
Not since Lance Berkman in 2001 had an Astro hit 50 doubles. Craig Biggio holds the franchise record with 56, and Bregman is placing the benchmark in serious peril. Bregman’s 100 RBIs are the most by an Astro since 2009, when Carlos Lee drove in 102.
Bregman also tied a franchise record by reaching base in his 51st consecutive road game, a feat previously accomplished by Jeff Bagwell across the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
“He’s having quite a season because of the preparation he’s doing, the lessons he’s learning, and the application in the game has been unreal,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
After the double, a fly ball from Yuli Gurriel advanced Bregman to third base. Another from Tyler White scored him. In touching home for the 100th time this season, Bregman joined Bagwell (eight times), Berkman (four times), Jimmy Wynn, Moises Alou, Derek Bell and Richard Hidalgo as Astros who have reached 100 runs and RBIs in a season.
In the franchise’s 57-season existence, only Bregman and Berkman have produced seasons of 50 doubles, 100 runs and 100 RBIs. No major league player had done it since Miguel Cabrera in 2014.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Bregman said. “Hopefully, we’ll keep rolling. We have 16 games left. Got to keep our foot on the gas pedal.”
On this two-city trip, the Astros did. They won five of six games against Boston and Detroit. The loss contained a disputed replay review that prevented a tying run from scoring Sunday at Fenway Park.
Because of the three one-run games that preceded it, the Astros operated Wednesday with a depleted bullpen. Neither Roberto Osuna nor Hector Rondon was available. Josh James, in his third major league appearance, was asked to finish three innings.
James touched 100 mph three times. A clean sixth segued into a stumbling seventh. James walked leadoff man Victor Reyes on five pitches. An 0-1 slider to Nicholas Castellanos backed up. Castellanos demolished it for a two-run homer, paring the Astros’ lead to one.
In the eighth inning, James yielded a single to Jim Adduci. With two outs, Dawel Lugo lifted a sinking liner to right field. Adduci was off with the pitch. Springer used a headlong dive to catch the baseball, pumping his fists and earning a hat tip from James as the inning concluded.
“That was phenomenal,” the rookie pitcher said. “That’s something I have to get used to, too, is that defense.”