Bats stay silent in 3rd straight loss
Chaos reigned for a moment before misery resumed its residence inside a first-base dugout waiting for something to energize it.
The Astros are discovering new ways to waste prosperity amid this absence of clutch hitting. Some games seem filled with opportunities to waste. Others have none at all. Both are contributing to borderline reckless baserunning in hopes something can ignite a spark.
Saturday’s loss showcased a new, more miserable method of torture. Houston’s eight- and ninehole hitters started the seventh inning with productive at-bats — one a double and the other a four-pitch walk. Miami second baseman Willians Astudillo committed an error to help Houston’s cause.
Jose Altuve accepted the gaffe and stood at first base. His team trailed by three runs but had a sublime situation: the bases loaded and no outs for one man who never strikes out and another that once craved clutch moments.
Marlins reliever Anthony Bass brought his glove toward his cap. The 31,379 gathered here finally found reason to cheer, causing a problem with Bass’ PitchCom.
He finally received the signs and stared toward Michael Brantley, Houston’s contact-crazy twohole hitter with a wonderful ability to work at-bats. He had not struck out in his past 30 plate appearances. Bass fanned him on four pitches.
Alex Bregman brought himself to the batter’s box. He boasted a .709 OPS and .219 batting average before Saturday’s game. Manager Dusty Baker still slotted him third in the batting order and sidestepped pregame questions about his struggles, telling reporters “let’s wait” before proclaiming anything broad.
“I got to do a better job of getting the job done,” Bregman said after the 5-1 loss, accepting any and all blame thrown toward him. “It starts with me.”
Baker is a players’ manager. Those hoping he will publicly bury one of them are in line for disappointment.
Fifty-nine games into a season is not time to panic, but it does invite one to wonder how long this wait for a functioning offense can last.
The Astros have scored one or no runs 11 times in 59 games. They did that 18 times total last season.
After leading the sport in run production last year, this lineup is averaging 4.05 runs per game. Its performance with runners in scoring position is pitiful, and the at-bats with runners on base are no better. A franchise that’s built its renaissance around an awesome offense is fielding, at best, an average one.
After going 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position Friday, the Astros went 1-for-13 Saturday. Their .224 batting average with runners on base ranks 28th of 30 teams. Their .699 OPS with runners in scoring position is 22nd.
“What I care about is the intensity we go out (there) with every day,” Altuve said. “There are guys working really hard to go to home plate and do everything we can. Everybody wants to hit, hit homers and hit singles.
That’s what really matters, that we really want to do it. It’s not because we don’t want to. We’re going out there trying our best, 100 percent.”
A lone positive: the Astros play in a putrid American League West. Their divisional foes continue to lose. None of the four are above .500, leaving Houston with the sport’s largest division lead despite this dreadful stretch of five losses in seven games.
Baker often reminds many of the cushion this club has created. It allows him patience with poor play and an ability to tinker. He batted two of his best hitters back-to-back Friday, eschewing balance for the power potential of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker following one another.
Baker bristled at the notion that starting pitchers factor into his decision. Bullpen construction does. Yet on Saturday — facing the same Miami bullpen he did Friday — Baker inserted Yuli Gurriel between Alvarez and Tucker. Marlins starter Braxton Garrett is lefthanded; the team started righty Pablo Lopez on Friday.
The seventh overall pick in the 2016 draft, Garrett has been a disappointment, with a 5.60 lifetime ERA across 45 major league innings. He entered Saturday’s start with a 10.80 ERA in 31⁄3 innings this season.
For most of the six frames he started, the Astros could not inflict any damage aside from one unearned run. Garrett spun sliders at will and mixed in a sinking, twoseam fastball to flummox Houston’s lineup. He struck out five and surrendered just six hits. The Astros whiffed 15 times against him and averaged only an 87.7 mph exit velocity on the balls they put in play.
“It seems like the ball isn’t really bouncing our way, hasn’t bounced our way in a while,” Baker said. “It just seems like things aren’t going our way, not in a good place, but you have to fight through this. Every team is going to go through it.”
Tucker hit a one-out double in the second. None of the next two hitters advanced him. Bregman doubled and Alvarez walked to begin the sixth. Gurriel popped out to the catcher to stall the momentum. He’s now 7for-48 with runners in scoring position this season. A 1-for-4 afternoon left his OPS at .622, a horrific season this sixth inning at-bat only helped to further.
That he even took the at-bat is an indictment on an impotent lineup and a manager maintaining stubborn faith.
“This team doesn’t like to lose,” Baker said. “You’re going to be frustrated. These guys are used to winning, used to coming through, and will come through again very shortly. In the meantime, you have to fight your way through it.”
Fight is apparent. Poor luck, too, but the two mean little in a results-oriented business. The wait for better ones extended into the eighth inning, when the eruption against Bass began and Bregman sauntered to the plate.
Perhaps Baker’s wait for Bregman would end here, amid the sort of situation Houston’s cornerstone third baseman has mastered across his major league career. One swing could sway the tenor of his season and the result of Saturday’s game. He took it on an 0-1 pitch, a slider that broke down and away from the righthanded hitter.
Bregman lined the baseball softly toward Bass. He caught it in the air, but none of the four umpires seemed to notice. Bass threw to first base and doubled off Altuve. With no signal of a catch, a carousel of Astros kept running the bases. Mauricio Dubón crossed home plate as the crowd devolved into delirium. Marlins manager Don Mattingly bolted from the dugout to end the dream.
“I saw it,” Bregman acknowledged afterward. “I just lined out to him.”
Mattingly and Bass implored the umpires to make a call. When they did, no argument came from Houston’s downtrodden dugout. Only dread remained.
“I think guys have done a great job getting on base,” Bregman said. “It comes down to driving guys in when they’re out there. I haven’t done a good job of that. I need to be better. I will be better.”