Bats break out to snap skid
Offense cashes in with timely hits to score seven runs in 7th inning to rout AL West rivals
A lineup built to buoy the Astros is not lacking for opportunity. Just one major-league team, the Dodgers, awoke Saturday with more hits this season. Houston’s offense, still, ranked 19th in runs per game. Lack of timely hits loomed the last two weeks as a frustrating trend.
Saturday threatened to continue it. Twice in the first three innings against the Rangers, the Astros loaded the bases and did not score. Another chance arrived in the seventh. This one was not squandered.
Houston broke open a tied game with a seven-run seventh inning, the type of avalanche it has too often been under of late. It propelled the Astros to a 9-2 win at Minute Maid Park that ended their four-game losing streak and offered their embattled bullpen a brief respite. Their record is 5-11.
Entering the seventh inning, Astros hitters were 1for-14 in bases-loaded situations this season, the one hit a single by Chas McCormick on opening day. They were hitless in three such at-bats in the first three innings Saturday. They loaded the bases on three groundball singles against José Ureña.
Astros manager Joe Espada wielded a shorthanded bench. Alex Bregman was not available because of an illness and McCormick limited by a sore hamstring. Espada deployed one of his two healthy options — switch-hitter Victor Caratini — to pinch-hit for Mauricio Dubón.
“Ureña, he’s really tough on righties,” Espada said. “He’s got that sinker and the big slider. (It was) a good matchup for Victor.”
Caratini saw two 96 mph sinkers from Ureña. He lined the second sharply into right-center field to drive in a run, breaking a 2-2 tie and igniting a rout.
“He was ready to go,” center fielder Jake Meyers said. “That’s a tough thing to do coming off the bench and hitting, and that was really impressive.”
Meyers preceded Caratini’s at-bat with a bunt single. Espada said it was a good spot for Meyers to try bunting for a hit with Rangers third baseman Josh Smith playing back anticipating a possible doubleplay ground ball. Meyers conceded a chance to drive in the go-ahead run but loaded the bases for Caratini.
“That’s probably the toughest part about it is, do I want to try to drive in the run or get on base to pass the bat to the next guy,” Meyers said. “And we have such a great lineup that sometimes I feel like I can’t make the wrong decision.”
That lineup was 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the first six innings Saturday. Meyers’ single was the first of five such hits in the seventh. The Astros sent 11 men to the plate in the inning and struck six hits and a sacrifice fly.
“That’s the offense that I’m used to seeing,” Espada said. “When we get pitchers on the ropes, we’ve got to put them away, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Jose Altuve followed Caratini by lining a tworun double into the leftfield corner. The Rangers put Yordan Alvarez on first base to face Kyle Tucker, again with the bases loaded. Tucker sent a fastball from Austin Pruitt to the left-center field gap to score two more runs.
Ryan Pressly, who had been warming in the Astros’ bullpen, sat down. Rafael Montero took his place to prepare to help close out a lopsided victory.
Altuve, Alvarez and Tucker combined to reach base nine times, score four runs and drive in five. A lineup missing Bregman and McCormick collected 14 hits and capitalized on them in a way that has proven elusive amid the Astros’ anemic start.
“This is the kind of team we are,” Altuve said. “We have done it before. And I
don’t see why we can’t start doing it again.”
A steadying hand
Ronel Blanco continued his emergence by giving the Astros a start their pitching staff sorely needed. In five games preceding Saturday, Houston’s starters had worked a total of 13 ⅓ innings and allowed 31 runs. Blanco provided some stability.
Texas scored two firstinning runs. Blanco issued two-out walks to Evan Carter and Adolis García. They scored on singles by Smith and Wyatt Langford. Langford was thrown out trying for second. From there, Blanco did not allow another runner into scoring position.
Again, Blanco mostly avoided hard contact. Both RBI singles against him carried an exit velocity of 71 mph. Rangers hitters averaged an 88.7 mph exit velocity on 16 balls put into play. Blanco induced 12 misses on 45 swings, but nine were against his fastball. Five punctuated strikeouts.
Blanco allowed three singles over his final five innings. He departed after the sixth at 93 pitches in a 2-2 game. Blanco has three of Houston’s five quality starts this season. In the 13 games he has not pitched, Astros starters have a combined 7.36 ERA in 55 innings.
Espada used three relievers, each for an inning. Bryan Abreu escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to preserve a 2-2 tie. Montero worked a scoreless eighth and Shawn Dubin, just reinstated from the injured list, pitched the ninth.
Spoiled strategy
Rangers reliever Brock Burke punched a wall and broke his hand after his outing Friday, leaving manager Bruce Bochy with one left-hander in his bullpen, Jacob Latz. Bochy deployed him in the fourth.
Starter Andrew Heaney allowed a leadoff double to José Abreu, the first extrabase hit of the season for Abreu. Dubón’s groundout scored Abreu and turned the lineup over with two outs. Heaney hit Altuve on the foot with a breaking ball and walked Alvarez.
Bochy summoned Latz to try to preserve a 2-1 lead. Tucker entered the at-bat 7for-24 against lefties this season. Latz forged a 1-2 count and tried a 96 mph fastball. Tucker lined it to left-center for a game-tying double.
Yainer Diaz grounded out to keep the score at 2-2. But Latz’s early outing left him unavailable later, as Houston struck against Texas’ right-handed relievers.