Bats fall silent against more tough pitching
CLEVELAND — The Astros are pointing to good pitching as their impediment lately, noting that even in losing four of their last five games, the decisions well could have swung the other direction and that the competition deserves credit.
Maybe there’s some comfort to be taken in that line of thinking after the Astros dropped a second straight game to the Indians, 4-2 on Wednesday night at Progressive Field. Nonetheless, if one starts to think about the Astros as a potential playoff team, little would be more encouraging to onlookers than seeing them handle some of the best arms with consistency.
Trevor Bauer, who no-hit the Astros for six innings in April, this time threw eight innings and struck out nine. Both runs he allowed came on a first-inning Evan Gattis homer on a pitch that was shoulder high yet somehow manageable for the resident lumberjack.
Bauer went on to retire 12 straight batters from the fourth into the eighth.
The Astros’ losses the last two nights have been by just two runs, but the offense has man-
aged only six hits in each of those games and just one for extra bases — Gattis’ homer.
The Astros’ approach in the early innings Wednesday was better than in the later frames.
“We’re facing some good pitching,” Astros skipper A.J. Hinch said. “They’ve exploited a few chase counts. These guys have good pitching. Our guys, we haven’t been able to scratch out enough. I thought we got a break early when Gattis swung at the high fastball and hit the homer, and then both pitchers sort of didn’t give up any activity.
“I felt like we had Bauer on the ropes early and then just couldn’t chase him out of the game. He usually walks a few; we couldn’t draw any walks. He battled his way. He threw a lot of good breaking balls tonight. It was a difficult night.”
In command
Bauer (8-5) has tried to combat his control issues this year, and it seems to be working. The Astros drew no walks.
“It’s been a focus of mine to get ahead a little bit better,” said Bauer, who has a 3.76 ERA. “I made a couple of slight adjustments with where I stand on the rubber to each-sided hitter, and that’s helped me quite a bit.”
David Murphy’s tworun double off the rightfield wall broke a tie at 2 in the eighth inning against lefthander Joe Thatcher. Francisco Lindor’s one-out double and Michael Brantley’s walk — free passes have been the bane of the Astros lately — brought Murphy to the plate.
A lefthanded hitter who played at Klein High School, Murphy has barely seen southpaw pitching this year. He was 3-for-9 coming into the night, but with Pat Neshek looming, Indians manager Terry Francona didn’t make a typical move to pinch-hit.
“Thatcher is pretty tough, and they had the inning set up pretty much like they wanted, and Neshek is sitting out there,” Francona said. “Sometimes you’ve just gotta stay out of the way. That’s the best way I can say it. Let your guys play. And Murph is a good hitter, and fortunately, he got a good pitch and drove it.”
In six games this season, the Indians have a 2.38 ERA against the Astros and have held them to a .193 average.
Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox threw a complete game against the Astros on Saturday. The Astros jumped on one of those fine Indians starters on Monday, Carlos Carrasco, but have been slowed again the last two nights, first by defending Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and now Bauer.
“We’ve also been in the game,” said Gattis, who has 15 home runs and has matched a season high with a nine-game hitting streak. “It could’ve gone either way each time. Those guys are good, too.”
Dan Straily’s second Astros start was promising, with six innings of threehit, two-run ball. He struck out four and walked two.
It’s not clear how Straily figures into the Astros’ plans after the All-Star break, but he has made a good impression. His slider was his better secondary pitch in his first start against the Red Sox, while it was his changeup that served him best Wednesday.
“I tried to take a little off and tried to locate the fastball down and away and mix in with a changeup,” Straily said. “Throw a few sliders in there. Just didn’t have a good slider to lefthanders tonight. Luckily, the changeup was there to keep them off-balance and out front.”
Gattis’ homer came on an 0-1 fastball that, according to Baseball Savant. com’s Daren Willman, was the highest pitch hit for a homer since one by Hunter Pence on Aug. 23, 2014.
Gattis, amazingly, said it wasn’t the farthest up the ladder he’s gone to slug a home run.
“I was looking up,” Gattis said. “I know it’s a problem area for me, and he knows that, too.”
Respect for hitter
Bauer was impressed. “I love Gattis,” Bauer said. “His approach is awesome. I threw the first one — it was like 94 down the middle — and he fouled it back, and it struck me as weird. I was like, that doesn’t look like a normal foul ball. I’m just going to throw a fastball up, out of the zone and kind of reset. I didn’t know what pitch to throw next. So I threw a fastball up, and it was two feet out of the strike zone. So what are you going to do? It’s great. I love baseball for that reason. Because stuff like that happens.” evan.drellich@chron.com twitter.com/evandrellich