COMBO NO-HIT BID LOST IN EIGHTH INNING OF 4-1 WIN OVER RANGERS. •
Alex Bregman is scheduled to start a minor league rehab assignment with Class AAA Sugar Land within the next day or two, but he is unlikely to rejoin the major league team during its upcoming eightgame West Coast road trip.
Bregman ran the bases at Minute Maid Park before participating in a full pregame workout before Saturday night’s game against the Texas Rangers. He’s missed 31 games since straining his left quad June 16 against the Rangers.
“I felt amazing today,” Bregman said. “Pushed it as hard as I’ve pushed it (and) beat times that I had running during the regular season earlier when I was letting it go. It was really good. I’m looking forward to continuing to build up and getting out of here and getting back closer to playing up here.”
Bregman planned to map out his entire minor league rehab schedule after batting practice on Saturday, but sounded certain he would join the Skeeters in Oklahoma City, where they play until Wednesday. They return home to Constellation Field for seven games against El Paso starting Thursday.
Bregman said he will require at least 15 or 20 at-bats. Manager Dusty Baker intimated the team will handle Bregman similar to how it does in spring training — playing him only for four or five innings during his first few games while mixing in days at designated hitter and some off days.
The timeline does not leave Bregman much of a chance to re-join the Astros during their anticipated road trip. Baker said “that’d be pushing it” and Bregman will “probably not” factor into any of the games against the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I’m going to go start playing baseball,” Bregman said, “which is good.”
Taylor assures Baker he’s OK
Blake Taylor’s troublesome final pitch of Friday’s eighth inning left Dusty Baker wondering what many onlookers feared. Taylor averages 93.2 mph with his four-seam fastball. He ended a clean eighth with one that registered just 86.9 mph on the radar gun. Such a precipitous drop suggests some sort of injury.
“I asked the same question,” Baker said on Saturday. “He said he’s OK.”
Taylor averaged just 91.2 mph on the 18 four-seam fastballs he threw during the 7-3 win. He hit 93 mph only once, with a first-pitch fastball to Adolis Garcia. Taylor struck out both Garcia and Nathaniel Lowe before issuing a walk and single. He needed 23 pitches to finish the frame but escaped it unscathed.
Baker acknowledged Taylor’s velocity has diminished during his last few outings. He averaged just 92.6 mph in the ninth inning against Cleveland on Tuesday, but again escaped unscathed.
Baker took Taylor at his word Saturday, but the reliever’s history of hiding injuries is not secret. Last season, Taylor tried to pitch through elbow soreness while self medicating, but finally admitted discomfort to the training staff. He spent time on the injured list in September, but returned in time to contribute for the playoffs.
Taylor’s scoreless inning on Friday lowered his ERA to 3.52. He’s allowed three earned runs in seven July innings.
“I asked him, we asked him, and he said he feels fine,” Baker said.
Skeeters hold on in Oklahoma City
The Sugar Land Skeeters held on for a 6-4 road win Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
CJ Hinojosa’s solo home run in the eighth inning padded a Skeeters lead created in the fourth. It was Hinojosa’s eighth homer of the year and the fifth in his last seven games.
The Skeeters logged five straight hits in the fourth inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Ronnie Dawson opened the scoring with a two-run double down the right-field line. Jose Siri followed with an RBI ground-rule double and Michael Papierski added an RBI single.
Righthander Riley Ferrell pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his second save of the season.