Peña’s leaping grab thwarted Seattle rally
SEATTLE — Few in the Astros clubhouse could remember seeing Jeremy Peña jump. Houston’s rookie shortstop starred as a high school high jumper, but until Friday, never needed to prove it on a big league field.
“The kid’s a freak athlete,” reliever Ryne Stanek said, “so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s got some bunnies.”
Peña’s hops preserved Stanek’s outing and subdued a Seattle crowd ready to explode. He leaped and snared Kyle Lewis’ line drive behind second base, saving at least two runs during a game-deciding eighth inning.
“I thought he had no chance,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “That was the play of the game. If that ball goes through, it’s probably a different story.”
Seattle loaded the bases with one out against Astros reliever Phil Maton, forcing manager Dusty Baker to summon Stanek. The skipper calls Stanek his fireman, the man he can put in to extinguish any situation.
Stanek forced home a run with a bases-loaded walk before falling behind Lewis 2-0. Stanek fired a four-seam fastball to get back in the count. Lewis hit a 77.2 mph line drive up the middle.
“I thought he hit it a little harder,” Peña said. “It was kind of off the end of the bat. The ball was knuckling in the air. I felt like I got a pretty good read on it and I just got up.”
With the bases loaded and Peña at double-play depth, he sprinted toward Lewis’ line drive. Peña stands 6 feet. He needed every inch of it.
“You’re just trying to get up and, once you get up there, you see where you’re at with the ball,” Peña said with a grin.
Peña snagged the baseball in the webbing of his glove. If not for the leap, Lewis’ liner would have put the tying run in scoring position. The line drive carried a 77 percent hit probability, per Statcast.
Altuve did not believe his eyes. For a moment, neither did Baker.
“I couldn’t tell,” Baker said. “I haven’t seen Peña jump. Now I’ve seen him jump. He said he had some more in the tank, but I don’t know how much more. That was big.”
Meyers looking to get out of funk
The stop-and-start nature of Jake Meyers’ major league career hides his relative inexperience. Meyers has been a fixture of conversation for more than a year, but Saturday’s game against the Mariners was just his 59th big league start.
He hit .300 in his first 11 games off the injured list (12-for-40) but entered Saturday’s game in a 2for-26 funk. He has 12 strikeouts in the same span with a 33.7 percent whiff rate. The major league average is 24.6 percent.
Meyers entered Saturday with a 77 OPS+ — 23 points below league average — and even after going 2-for-3 on Saturday he’s slashing .250/.307/.363.
“He was better probably when he first got here,” Baker said. “They’ve adjusted to him, and now it’s his turn to adjust back to them. He’s been struggling a little bit lately, but we hope he gets it together.”
Meyers has just 87 plate appearances — too small a sample size for any conclusions. There is time for him to make the needed adjustments, but first he must solve the two areas where he feels he’s being exploited.
“A lot of four-seam fastballs up in the zone, which right now I’m just not covering real well,” Meyers said. “Usually, that’s my strong suit. I’m working on getting back to hitting that really well; that will help me out. I think that’s where I’ve been exposed: that and changeups.”
Brantley’s rehab is moving slowly
The Astros hope injured left fielder Michael Brantley will begin swinging a bat next week, but there remains no timetable for his return from a right shoulder injury.
Brantley tried to swing before the All-Star break, but the shoulder did not respond well and required re-evaluation from team doctors. He has been on the IL since June 28.
On Saturday, Baker sounded optimistic Brantley could start swinging again during the team’s upcoming series in Oakland, but it would only be the first step of a prolonged buildup.
Once he can swing again, he’ll need to progress to batting practice and face live pitching before conversations about a return to the major league lineup can begin. Brantley will need a minor league rehab assignment, too.
Space Cowboys hit 5 HRs in win
Pedro Leon and Yainer Diaz went deep for the second straight game, Corey Julks, Taylor Jones and Enmanuel Valdez also homered, and Sugar Land led wire-towire for the second consecutive night in a 10-5 victory at Albuquerque.