Astros reach 60 wins
Torrid 3rd baseman’s home run provides important cushion after Morton falters
Prospect Kyle Tucker made his debut, and the Astros beat the White Sox 12-6.
Alex Bregman dropped the bat as he normally does, complete with the unruffled flair that so endears him to those who gather inside Minute Maid Park. He began the slow jog up the first-base line while a gamesealing two-run homer landed five rows deep in the Crawford Boxes.
If there was any other petitioning or final highlight required for Bregman’s rapidly rising All-Star résumé, this was it. His 17th home run widened a one-run lead to three, lessened the blow of a four-run White Sox half-inning that preceded it, and continued his five-week ascent up major league leader boards.
In his last 21 games, Bregman has nine home runs and nine doubles. He finished 3-for-5 in Saturday’s 12-6 win, pushing his OPS past .900 for the first time all season. No other Astro is above .900. Only one American League third baseman, Jose Ramirez, surpasses him.
“He’s doing everything right in the batter’s box as far as seeing the ball, his selectiveness. His approach is A-plus. Bat to ball has been exceptional,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He can really hit.”
Bregman’s 12-game hitting streak is the longest in the American League. He punished James Shields, a reinvented 35-year-old veteran, for falling behind with a man in scoring position in the sixth inning of a one-run game. White Sox manager Rick Renteria, too, for trying to squeeze another inning from his languished starter.
Ahead in the count 2-0, Bregman received a four-seam fastball. It settled at his letters and, soon, into a fellow’s hand in the left-field seats. The baseball exited Bregman’s bat at only 95 mph but possessed a 29-degree launch angle and traveled 385 feet. In this ballpark, to left field, its fate is sealed.
So, too, was the game. The Astros reached 60 wins before the All-Star break for a second consecutive year, clubbing 17 hits on the afternoon and scoring six times in the final three innings. Every Astros starter had a hit — including ballyhooed outfield prospect Kyle Tucker in his major league debut. Six had multihit games.
“I think we’re swinging the bats well and we’re playing good baseball,” Bregman said. “Offensively, we’ve done a good job of passing the baton to the next guy, and (if ) we continue to do that, we’ll be successful.”
Houston struck four extrabase hits against Shields in the first three innings. Jose Altuve curled a two-out double inside the left-field line in the first. An inning later, Max Stassi split the right-center gap with another, scoring Evan Gattis for the game’s first run.
Yuli Gurriel drove in three of his four runs in the second, depositing Shields’ 0-1 68 mph curveball — some call it an eephus pitch — into the Crawford Boxes for a three-run homer.
Gurriel also drove Bregman home in the eighth against a drawn-in infield to begin a threerun frame and is hitting an American League-leading .432 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s nice to see guys swing the bat and score a lot of runs,” starting pitcher Charlie Morton said. “It’s awesome.”
Morton’s night began with great promise and ended unceremoniously. One day after Lance McCullers Jr. carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Morton maintained the torrid pace. Six of the first nine White Sox hitters struck out against the 34-yearold righthander.
Morton spun his looping curveball to early success. Daniel Palka struck out twice against it in the first four innings. So, too, did Jose Abreu. Only three White Sox reached scoring position against him through the first five innings — and one was due to an infield error.
Morton (11-2) entered the sixth inning with a four-run lead. He did not finish it. Facing the top of Chicago’s lineup for a third time, Morton allowed a soft, shiftbeating single to leadoff hitter Yoan Moncada and walked Yolmer Sanchez. Both were forced out on consecutive fielder’s choices. Morton required one more out to escape the mess.
He walked Palka on five pitches. Matt Davidson struck an RBI single on the second pitch Morton tossed him. Then, with a fullcount against Omar Narvaez, Morton left a full-count fastball chest-high.
The White Sox catcher shot it to the crevice in left field, between his bullpen and the Crawford Boxes. It cleared the bases and brought Hinch from the dugout. Will Harris struck out Tim Anderson, stranding the tying run.
It allowed Bregman to put the proceedings away in the home half.
“He can put together an at-bat, and that’s really saying something when you’re talking about the length of time that he’s been able to put it together,” Hinch said. “It’s not just a little hitting streak or a good series or a good couple weeks. It’s a pretty consistent quality at-bat.”