Astros can’t solve Hamels, drop second consecutive game to rival Rangers
ARLINGTON — As good as Cole Hamels can be, he gave the Astros plenty of chances Wednesday night.
The Texas Rangers ace hit the first two batters he faced, stared at a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the second inning and gave up a leadoff single in the third.
None of that mattered — not for Hamels, who had a chance to join the Astros at the trade deadline last season but didn’t waive a no-trade clause and instead went to their division rivals.
It didn’t matter because the Astros couldn’t take advantage, this time as part of a 2-1 loss in front of 25,821 at Globe Life Park. It’s their ninth straight loss in Arlington dating to last year and drops them to 5-10 this season.
“The first, the second, the seventh, the eighth — we had a ton of opportunities,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “You have to get to him early if you get a chance to get to him, and we had a ton of runners on. We did a really good job of creating havoc for him.
“We just didn’t do anything with it.”
The Astros finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They are 3-for-24 in their two games in Arlington, stranding 15 runners.
“This is a team that makes a lot of runs and right now — the last two games — we’re not doing a good job like we’re supposed to,” outfielder Carlos Gomez said. “But it’s part of the game.”
Hamels hit Jose Altuve and George Springer in the first. He struck out Carlos Correa and Tyler White, with Altuve and Springer taking off for third and second on White’s third strike.
Rangers catcher Bryan Holaday threw to second and Springer tried to avoid Rougned Odor’s tag, lifting his arm in a swim-like action. Hinch challenged, but the original ruling was upheld.
“You don’t know how many base runners you’re going to get against Cole Hamels,” Hinch said. “Even though we knew it was a gray area — maybe, maybe not — we felt like it was worth the risk.”
Colby Rasmus and Evan Gattis singled in the second inning, and Gomez reached on a bunt to load the bases.
Solid outing for Fister
Marwin Gonzalez followed with a fly ball to right, which Nomar Mazara caught. Rasmus ran a few steps off the third base but returned to the bag.
The throw was high, however, and Gomez ran to second, prompting Gattis to go to third. Gomez was chased back to first, but in the process Rasmus took off for home and was tagged for the second out. A groundout ended the rally.
“He was very aggressive with the read, which is the right read as long as there’s nobody on in front of him,” Hinch said. “With Gattis on second base, there’s not a lot that’s going to happen regardless of the throw and it ended up being costly aggressiveness.”
In the third inning, Altuve singled to left and was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.
The Astros put the leadoff batter on in five innings with nothing to show for it.
The missed chances put a damper on a quality outing from Doug Fister, who went six innings and recorded 10 groundball outs.
The righthander’s only mistake came on a secondinning fastball to Odor, who sent the pitch into the upper deck in right field for a two-run homer.
In the sixth, Fister gave up an Adrian Beltre single and walked Mitch Moreland, but Fister managed to work out of the jam.
“I like to go out there and finish a game, the inning or whatever the situation is,” said Fister, who threw 96 pitches (59 for strikes). “For (Hinch) to let me go, that’s much appreciated.” Hurt by the little things
The Astros finally got to Hamels by virtue of White’s solo home run in the sixth inning. They chased him in the seventh with runners at the corners, but reliever Sam Dyson left them there and Jake Diekman struck out two with Correa standing at second to end the eighth.
“We’ve lost too many games, but we’ve lost because of small things,” Hinch said. “It’s very much something that we’re going to address and we’re going to get better at it.
“We have to find a way to conquer the little things that are biting us in the (butt) every day.”