Astros are off to a record start
Keuchel, Gattis keep sparkling start on right track
Latest victory puts team with best record in American League and its best start in franchise history.
As Dallas Keuchel gave his postgame briefing Wednesday afternoon, outfielders George Springer and Jake Marisnick donned luchador masks and playfully stood in the back of the media pack.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d likely ask the same question most of the baseball world has been asking this season: Who are these first-place Astros?
Keuchel pitched seven strong innings, and Evan Gattis hit a majestic two-run homer to help the Astros beat the A’s 6-1, capping an impressive 7-2 homestand before an intimate crowd of 21,066 at Minute Maid Park.
Springer and Marisnick stood in for nearly 15 seconds and pretended to hold recording devices, but they couldn’t disrupt Keuchel. The Astros’ ace lefthander was as steady in the clubhouse as he was on the mound, preferring to have his fun between the lines.
By winning the three-game series over the struggling A’s 2-1, the Astros improved to 15-10 at home to maintain the best record in the
American League. At 27-14, they are off to the best start in franchise history.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” Keuchel said. “There’s absolutely no panic. They took the first game here, and we continued to grind and make adjustments. So when we do that, it’s fun here, and I think the guys here are expecting to win now.” Great start
Keuchel, who has won eight consecutive decisions dating to Sept. 14, is 6-0, the best start by an Astros pitcher since Roger Clemens was 9-0 in 2004.
Keuchel held the A’s to one unearned run, five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over seven innings. A’s righthander Jesse Hahn (1-4) gave up five hits and three runs with two walks and six strikeouts over six innings for the loss.
Few people would have blamed the Astros for donning masks after facing the A’s in recent years, but this 2015 Astros club is different, better, stronger, faster. And in first place by 5½ games.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re the best record in baseball or first place in the AL West, we’ll take each win and continue to try to get better,” Keuchel said. “But it’s definitely nice. I feel like right now we’ve kind of switched roles with the A’s in the last couple of years where they find different ways to win.
“It’s not always pitching and bullpen like they usually have done the past couple of years, but they would always find a key hit in the seventh or eighth and then shut it down. So that team over there is not playing as well as they want to be, but they’re still a tough team, and we don’t take anything for granted.”
Shortstop Marwin Gonzalez got the Astros’ offense started with a leadoff double in the third. He reached third on a wild pitch and gave the Astros a 1-0 lead on Marisnick’s RBI single to right.
The A’s threatened in the fourth. Billy Butler drew a one-out walk, and Brett Lawrie singled off leaping third baseman Luis Valbuena’s glove. Josh Phegley loaded the bases with a single to left.
Keuchel induced Mark Canha’s fielder’s choice grounder back to the mound for the first out at home, then induced Craig Gentry’s fielder’s choice grounder to short to leave the bases loaded.
“You’ve got to give him credit on that,” Butler said of Keuchel. “His ground ball-to-fly out ratio is incredible. He really buckles down in those situations, and that’s what a top-ofthe-rotation guy does. They have that type of stuff and mentality.” Taking control
In the sixth, Butler hit a one-out single down the right-field line between diving first baseman Chris Carter and the bag. Lawrie followed with a bloop single to shallow right. One out later, Canha hit a grounder to the right side. Carter attempted to backhand the ball, but it deflected off his glove for an error, allowing Butler to tie the score at 1.
The Astros countered right away. After Springer hit a two-out single to right, Gattis hit his majestic tworun homer to left.
“That’s huge,” Keuchel said. “That’s what we brought him here for. He brings the thunder. We’ve got some guys who have some tremendous pop, and it’s exciting to see. I go down in the tunnel and kind of do my own thing in between innings. So when I hear the crowd roar, I know somebody probably hit a bomb. And sure enough, Gattis is running around the bases and doing his little caveman dance and all that stuff.”
The Astros broke it open with three runs in the eighth, which Valbuena led off with a single to right field. Springer followed with a bloop double to right. Gattis then walked to load the bases. Colby Rasmus gave the Astros a 4-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to center, and Carter made it 6-1 with a two-run single to center. That was more than enough for Keuchel.
“He’s been so dominant, I think everybody if you asked them (would say), ‘Oh, Dallas is on the mound today.’ It’s like, ‘Let’s get him some runs early.’ And (then) everybody is just looking for a win,” Gattis said. “I think it does have a positive impact on how the team thinks going into the game. It does for me.”