Rookie 3B Toro smashes three-run home run; Reddick’s catch preserves eighth straight win
DENVER — Leads can be shortlived at Coors Field, the cavernous Colorado ballpark with a massive outfield and mile-high elevation. Few visitors are confident until a final out is secured.
Fly balls can bring a sense of dread for a team clinging to a close lead. Trevor Story launched another on Thursday, threatening again to chip away at the Astros’ two-run advantage in the bottom of the ninth.
Story hit Ryan Pressly’s twostrike fastball into the right-center gap. Two were out, but Charlie Blackmon loomed on deck as the tying run. Blackmon brought
baseball’s best batting average into Thursday’s game, and Pressly already had allowed one run, the fifth on the day by an Astros reliever.
Story’s shot sailed into the gap. Josh Reddick ran in pursuit, but playing in this outfield can be an adventure. Story hit a ball to Reddick during the sixth, wind carried it and the right fielder got completely turned around. The baseball fell behind Reddick for a double.
Reddick could not afford a repeat. He sprinted toward the gap as the line drive sliced toward him. Manager Dusty Baker knew he had a bead. Reddick dove for a full-extension, headfirst catch to conclude the Astros’ 10-8 victory.
“I just wanted for him to hold on to the ball when he hit the ground,” Baker said. “He looked like Superman with that one.”
Reddick popped up and displayed the baseball for all to see. The Astros dugout erupted with a mixture of expletives and excitement. High-scoring games here are the norm. Without anything close to their normal lineup or bullpen, the Astros held on. Thursday’s victory stretched their winning streak to eight.
“We’re playing really good,” said second baseman Jose Altuve. “Of course we miss the boys that are not on the team right now, but at the same time, we’re enjoying the way the guys are playing. Eight (wins) in a row is good. We want to keep playing hard and continue to win games.”
Lethargic visiting lineups arrive in Colorado hoping for a remedy. Count the Astros among the cured. In two games, they scored 23 runs and had 30 hits. On Thursday, they ravaged Rockies ace German Marquez for 10 earned runs. They hadn’t hung 10 or more earned runs on a starting pitcher since June 2016.
Two of their best bats departed during the series, though, leaving a bitter aftertaste on what otherwise was an outstanding offensive display. And another player was injured Thursday, inviting wonder how many maladies this club can withstand.
In spite of it all, the Astros continue to win. How their lineup copes for a couple weeks without Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman might determine their fate in the American League West. Bregman was placed on the injured list before Thursday’s game with a right hamstring strain.
On Thursday, the Astros made it all appear effortless, tagging the Rockies’ best starting pitcher with 10 hits. Marquez awoke Thursday with a 2.25 ERA. The
Astros inflated it to 4.38.
The Astros posted two five-run frames and held a seven-run advantage after five innings. Starter Cristian Javier collected just 11 outs, though, forcing the team’s inexperienced and beleaguered bullpen into a prolonged exposure in Coors Field craziness.
Javier threw only 47 of his 78 pitches for strikes. The leadoff man reached during three of the four innings he began. Houston handed Javier a five-run lead after the second inning, but he gave 60 percent of it away, exiting in a two-run game. Baker pulled him with two outs in the fourth in favor of Brooks Raley.
“It’s hard to keep those guys down, especially here in that ballpark,” Baker said. “We had to squash it right away.”
Five relievers teamed to allow five runs and 11 baserunners. Josh James retired the tying run in the sixth but injured himself in the process. No game during the 2020 season could be complete without such misfortune. James hobbled off the field with assistance, holding his left leg after coming up lame on a ground ball. Baker termed his injury “left hip discomfort.”
Rookies Enoli Paredes and Blake Taylor fired scoreless frames.
“They know they’re part of the team,” Baker said. “A lot of times you have a lot of rookies, and they don’t feel like they’re part of the team because they’re not called upon most of the time in big situations. Every one of the guys that’s come in has helped us in some sort of way.”
Pressly’s ninth featured one run. Reddick’s catch possibly prevented more. Ten runs of support allowed the closer at least some room for error. Houston did not have a hit after the fifth inning, but damage already was done.
Contributions came from the entire order, whether substitutes or struggling superstars. Kyle Tucker launched hits third triple in two days during a five-run second inning. Altuve added a tworun double to the left-center gap — a missile that left his bat at 101.5 mph. It was Altuve’s first extrabase hit since Aug. 6.
Altuve added a single to start the fifth, giving what had been a slumping second baseman multiple hits in consecutive games for the first time all season. Carlos Correa followed with a seeingeye shot up the middle — a ground ball that either middle infielder should have grabbed. Marquez gestured in disgust as it snuck through.
The righthander rebounded to strike out Reddick for the first out. A second seemed far away. Yuli Gurriel and Tucker each deposited run-scoring singles, bringing Abraham Toro to the plate.
Toro started Thursday in Bregman’s place. Replacing an MVP candidate is daunting. Few expect Toro to do it alone, but his contributions are nonetheless more magnified. He eyed Marquez with two on and one out. Two runs were already in, but big innings mean more at Coors Field, a place where it’s never known if enough is enough.
Marquez served two sliders. Toro took the first on the inner half. Marquez mislocated the second. Toro destroyed it for a three-run homer into the Rockies bullpen, the final blow in another win.
“That’s what makes this team so special,” Toro said. “We’re losing some key guys, and we keep winning. That shows the depth of this team. You just want that opportunity, (and) whenever it comes, you have to step up.”