Astros, Musgrove blank Athletics
Joe Musgrove typically doesn’t walk batters, let alone three in the same start. He also doesn’t hit them, especially not twice on similar pitches.
Yet Musgrove ensured those were his only blemishes in a bounce-back start in the Astros’ 6-0 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. The rookie righthander completed 51⁄3 scoreless innings, considerable improvement from the previous two starts, in which he
allowed a total of 13 runs.
Relying on his fourseam fastball rather than his sinker and better mixing his five pitches, a more aggressive Musgrove yielded only three hits and none in the same inning. If it weren’t for the free passes — the three-walk outing was his first in 82 games as a professional — he would have pitched deeper into the game.
Musgrove for the most part spotted his fastball to set up his slider, which he utilized to put away batters on six of his seven strikeouts. Three relievers combined to finish the cumulative shutout for the Astros (69-62), who moved back within two games of the second American League wild-card spot. The win was their eighth in 10 games.
“That’s the kind of pitcher I am,” Musgrove said of his aggressive approach. “I’ve got to be the guy that goes as hard as I can as long as I can, and in the past couple outings, I kind of got away from that.”
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said the outing marked the most aggressively Musgrove (2-2) has pitched since either the pitcher’s Aug. 2 debut (41⁄3
scoreless innings of relief against the Blue Jays) or his first major league start on Aug. 7 (seven innings of one-run ball against the Rangers).
“I think he’s going to need that edge, given how much he attacks the strike zone,” Hinch said. “He can’t sort of ease his way into the strike zone the way that he had in his last couple starts.”
Gurriel plays third
The run support was plenty, although most of it came once Musgrove had exited. Seven Astros accounted for at least a hit. Jose Altuve bolstered his MVP case with his 22nd home run. Yulieski Gurriel, who made his first start at third base but saw no balls hit his way, recorded his second multi-hit game. Alex Bregman smacked a two-run single.
Musgrove faced the minimum through three innings and didn’t allow a hit until Khris Davis’ twoout flare to right field in the fourth. He loaded the bases in the fifth by hitting Jake Smolinski — the second of consecutive plate appearances in which he plunked Smolinski with a breaking ball — and walking Max Muncy but escaped by striking out Coco Crisp and Danny Valencia.
Musgrove said after the game he wasn’t worried about the walks, chalking them up to pitches on which he had fallen behind in counts. He issued more than one walk only twice in his previous 21 outings this season spanning Class AA, Class AAA and the major leagues.
“You never want to be there, but I love competing, so the chance to get out of the inning is a chance for me to grow a little bit as a pitcher,” he said.
Hinch pulled Musgrove after the pitcher faced three batters in the sixth. The first two reached via a single and a walk. Luke Gregerson, who hadn’t pitched in 11 days because of an ankle injury, induced an inning-ending double play on the second pitch he threw to Yonder Alonso.
The Astros plated their first two runs in the second inning without even hitting the ball out of the infield. After Gurriel legged out a two-out infield single, A’s third baseman Ryon Healy botched consecutive grounders to load the bases.
Two RBI walks
Oakland starter Sean Manaea responded by issuing back-to-back walks to Jake Marisnick and George Springer before striking out Bregman to cap the frame. Manaea, who exited in the fourth because of a rhomboid strain, exhausted 36 pitches in the Astros’ two-run second inning, 21 after the first of Healy’s two errors.
Altuve’s second homer into the Crawford Boxes in as many games increased the Astros’ lead to three runs through six innings. A three-run seventh put the game out of reach, sealing Musgrove’s status back in the win column.