With little run support, Mccullers solid
HOUSTON — Sunday afternoons have not treated the Astros kindly. A day known for leisurely cups of coffee and newspaper perusals translated to languid performances for one of baseball’s best teams. When the Astros awoke ahead of their series finale against the Angels, they were 0-6 in six Sunday games during August and September. Houston was outscored 17-38 in those losses and had a 22-23 record in day games this season.
The Astros finally broke their Sunday slump with a defensiveminded 3-1 win over the Angels at Minute Maid Park, securing a season series victory while limiting Los Angeles to four hits behind an excellent outing from starting pitcher Lance Mccullers Jr.
Mccullers did his part to keep the Angels at bay for the better part of the afternoon, though the Astros refused to widen their 1-0 lead and left the bases loaded twice through the first four innings. Juan Lagares tied the game with a solo home run for the Angels in the fifth inning before Kyle Tucker reclaimed the lead for Houston with a two-run home run.
Yuli Gurriel went 4-for-4 with one RBI, his third four-hit game of the season. Tucker continued his hot streak at the plate and is batting 25-for-59 (.424) in 17 games since he returned from the injured list Aug. 24.
Mccullers made do with little run support while picking up his 12th win of the season. He labored through the first couple innings before settling in, and finished six innings of one-run ball on 102 pitches with two walks and seven strikeouts. High pitch counts have become the norm for Mccullers, but the three hits he allowed Sunday were the fewest since he yielded two hits in seven innings July 16 at Chicago.
“He was awesome,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “He pitched ahead of the count most of the time, and he used his fastball probably more than he had early in the count to get strike one. He threw
some outstanding breaking balls for strike three, and he threw some very good changeups and he had a good tempo going.”
Mccullers lowered his season ERA to 3.12 and has compiled at least seven strikeouts in 12 of his last 14 starts. In four starts against the Angels this season, he has a 2.14 ERA over 25.2 innings pitched.
Angels starter Jaime Barria gave up four hits and four walks over four innings but allowed only one run while striking out six Astros.
Mccullers also worked around traffic early as he allowed the Angels to put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings. He allowed the first two batters of the game to reach base via a single and a walk. The runners advanced as Phil Gosselin grounded out on a ground ball to the pitcher, but Mccullers escaped with a strikeout and a first-pitch ground ball out.
Mccullers opened the second inning by hitting Brandon Marsh with a pitch. Marsh attempted to steal second base and Martín Maldonado,
who leads American League catchers in runners caught stealing, fired a throw to Altuve. Umpires initially called Marsh out, but the Angels challenged the tag play and got the call overturned. Mccullers issued a walk to Mayfield to put two runners on for the second consecutive inning, but Houston’s ground-ball king got out of it by inducing a double play preceded by a strikeout.
The Astros continued to wear down Barria with drawn-out atbats, and in the fourth inning it seemed as though the righthander was tiring. After Carlos Correa and Aledmys Díaz each pushed Barria to full counts and fouled off multiple pitches before striking out, Mccormick drew a full-count walk and Maldonado ripped a 2-2 pitch through the left side for a two-out single. Altuve walked to load the bases, but Bregman flew out on Barria’s 96th pitch to waste another golden opportunity.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Lagares crushed a slider
for a 404-foot solo home run to tie the game. Correa made an outstanding diving play on a line drive to rob David Fletcher of a base hit before Mccullers got Shohei Ohtani to ground out.
“Tucker, just can’t say enough about him and what he’s been to our team this year, and then Maldy behind the plate was fantastic again,” he said. “And then Carlos making probably one of the one of the best plays I’ve seen — and I’ve seen a lot of his great plays. So it’s a great team win to win the series.”
Jose Quijada relieved Barria in the bottom of the inning and gave up a one-out single to Gurriel before Tucker sent a two-run shot into the home bullpen to put the Astros back on top 3-1.
Astros relievers Ryne Stanek, Kendall Graveman and Ryan Pressly worked an inning each to shut the door. Graveman surrendered a walk and a single to put two runners on in the eighth inning, but that was all the Angels would get.
Since the trade deadline, Baker and pitching coach Brent Strom have frequently employed Stanek, Graveman and Pressly in consecutive innings when the Astros have a lead. The manager said Sunday that he prefers that alignment whenever possible. Pressly agreed.
“I think that’s pretty much how you want to draw it up, but everybody in that bullpen can go get big outs, and they’re going to have to be able to do that in the postseason,” Pressly said. “Everybody wants the ball at any given moment. So to have the guys and Stanek and then Graveman and me, it’s an easy call for Strommie and Dusty.
“So it’s fun when everything clicks and is going in order.”