Normalcy returns in dominating fashion
Cole provides typical start; early offense makes it a rout
ANAHEIM, Calif. — More than anyone associated with either the Astros or Angels, Jake Marisnick desired nothing but normalcy.
Retaliation for a nineday-old collision with catcher Jonathan Lucroy left so many mentioning Marisnick and ignoring what he felt was the bigger picture. The team itself was teetering. Oakland crept to within four games in the American League West after Tuesday’s loss.
His team did so little during this road trip that could count as customary — whether on the field or off. A closed-door team meeting on Tuesday night capped the terrible stretch.
“Put this stuff behind us and get out and get some wins,” Marisnick pleaded
before Wednesday’s game. “We got beat up the last couple days, we lost two here, so we’re looking to get back out and get a win today.”
Four setbacks in the Astros’ first six games out of the All-Star break featured frustrating follies. They played putrid defense. Stranding a small army of baserunners combusted countless scoring chances. Twenty-five runners were left aboard in the past two games, support so desperately needed given the dire starting pitching problem.
Wednesday was a return to something resembling routine. Houston handed the baseball to Gerrit Cole — a bona fide starting pitcher — and hammered the one he opposed.
By the fifth inning, every member of the starting lineup had reached base. The only one without a hit, George Springer, smacked a three-run home run during the frame to farcify this game.
The Astros annihilated the Angels 11-2, exorcising any sort of lingering animosity from Tuesday’s theatrics. They struck 12 hits and scored six runs in the first three innings before supplying a fivespot in the fifth.
Marisnick, beneath the constant boos still showering his every move, contributed a teamhigh three hits. He singled in the second and started the fourth with a double, spelling the end for Angels starter Felix Pena.
If the Astros could take solace in one fact from the first three games, it was their exhaustion of the Anaheim bullpen. Cycling through relievers forced the Angels to deploy Pena in a more traditional manner. Not since April 19 had Pena started a game without an opener. He entered in the second inning during 13 of his previous 14 appearances.
On Friday,Felix Pena threw the final seven innings of his team’s combined no-hitter against the Mariners. When he retired Springer to begin Wednesday's game, the righthander completed a stretch spanning three starts and 27 straight outs without yielding a base hit.
That served as Pena’s lone success. Jose Altuve followed Springer with a single. Alex Bregman drove him in with a double that Justin Upton misjudged in left field. Michael Brantley loomed.
Pena placed a fastball letterhigh. Brantley deposited it into the right field seats, socking the 100th home run of his career to begin an avalanche. Pena was charged with eight earned runs in 4⅔ innings, all Cole required to tame the Angels.
Three runs of support before throwing a pitch was comforting for Cole. His first-inning struggles are perhaps the only plague on an otherwise remarkable season. The righthander carried a 4.95 first-frame ERA into this start. A walk to Shohei Ohtani was his only first-inning mistake.
The next six innings featured few others. Against a team harder to strike out than any other in the major leagues, Cole amassed 11 punchouts and yielded one run. No pitcher had struck out 10 or more Angels this season. Only two baserunners advanced to scoring position while he worked.
Cole struck out the final five hitters he faced. He hit 99.2 mph on his 106th pitch. The final fastball he threw was 99.4. After he fired it, Cole gave another normal sight, a dominant starter departing the field late in a game with a lead.