Astros season saved by ace
Dallas Keuchel runs his home record to 15-0 with win over Rangers.
Offifficially, Luke
HOUSTON — Gregerson got the save by retiring the side in order in the ninth.
But it was really Dallas Keuchel who saved the season. And so much more.
As Keuchel’s manager, A.J. Hinch, put it, “That’s what aces do.”
The bearded left-hander put an exclamation point on the best home season in majorleague history, combining with two others on a threehitter and punctuating a Cy Young-caliber year with a 4-2 masterpiece win against the rival Texas Rangers on Sunday to keep the Astros’ playoffff hopes alive. Not that his performance in his fifinal home start was anything out of the ordinary.
After all, he’s now 15-0 at Minute Maid Park, the fifirst pitcher in modern history to win that many without a single blemish at home.
“That’s a crazy stat,” teammate Chris Carter said.
Not any more crazy than this magical turnaround season for the Astros, who have stopped the bleeding with two wins in this three-game series with the Rangers to pull to within 21/2 games of Texas for the AL West lead and keep the Angels behind them by a halfgame.
The Astros’ season isn’t any more remarkable than Keuchel’s rise among the elite pitchers in baseball. He’s posted only a 40-35 career record, but 31 of those wins have come in the last two years. A seventh-round pick out of the University of Arkansas, the 6-3, 210-pounder doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he has terrific command and poise. He used those talents to subdue the heavy-hitting Rangers to give the Astros hope for a division title.
“I’ve seen Dallas be pretty good this year,” Hinch said, “but he was as dominant as he’s been. He’s having as spectacular a season as anybody.”
He might even pick up more if he can surpass Toronto’s overpowering David Price for the Cy Young Award, although that’s beyond his comprehension.
“I never thought I’d be in this position,” Keuchel said after checking the Rangers on two hits and one run over seven innings and punching out 10 Rangers for his fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season. “It’d be nice to have some hardware, but I’d much rather have a big, fat ring.”
Win a few of their last seven games on the road, where the team has been a dreadful 29-46, and he and his teammates would have a chance to play for such oversized jewelry.
Houston will have to secure a few more wins to pad its 82-74 record, which already represents 12 more wins than last season and 31 more than two years ago. Their disparity in success at home and away could mirror the 1991 home-happy Twins, who were the last to win a World Series with the same dizzying kind of formula.
The Astros don’t care how they get it done. They just want to pick up a few victories in Seattle and Arizona — they’re 10-6 versus the Mariners and 2-1 against the Diamondbacks — to hold off the Angels and Twins and remove any late-week drama.
“How ’bout we win ’em all and not worry about it?” Hinch posed. “I sort of expect everybody to win. Including us.”
He knows he can count on Keuchel with reasonable comfort for one of them. At 19-8, he’s been close to automatic and has done everything but hit a home run. He’s about the only one who hasn’t.
Those are the two certitudes about Houston, which has been the biggest sensation of this major-league season this side of the Mets, who have made irrelevancy an art form: Keuchel and a whole bunch of home runs. Five Astros, including Carter, who hit one thunder shot Sunday, have hit 20 or more.
That recipe, combined with a lot of stolen bases and a bunch of first-half magic, cooked up a delicious season for a fan base that has suffered through three 100-loss seasons in the last four before this summer.
Steal a few more wins, and the Astros could find themselves in baseball’s postseason in October at a time usually reserved for complaints about the Texans’ quarterback woes.
“This is a little more sweet for the guys who have been here,” Astros catcher Jason Castro said. “It’s been a rough few years. I know people have been waiting for us to fade out, but we don’t want to come this far and not take it home.”
Home is where Keuchel won for an AL-leading 19th time and where he became the first Astros pitcher since Nolan Ryan to set a record for the lowest home earned-run average with a 1.07 mark. He’s been so good, he’s almost lulled his teammates to sleep.
“To tell you the truth,” outfielder Jake Marisnick cracked, “it’s boring in center field when he pitches.”
It was anything but boring for the 36,084 fans on hand Sunday, as well as the manager.
“I’d just like to see him get another home start,” Hinch said with a wide smile.