Gonzalez defies odds, tags Kluber for 3-run HR
CLEVELAND — Indians ace Corey Kluber, who throws one of the best breaking balls in the majors, arguably has been the top starting pitcher in the American League this season.
So when Marwin Gonzalez fell behind 0-2 in the count during his first at-bat Tuesday night, the odds against the super utility man’s mustering even a single were exceedingly slim.
But Gonzalez bucked the trends, sending a hanging curveball 423 feet over the right field-fence at Progressive Field.
The second-inning homer — a three-run shot — sparked the Astros to a 4-3 victory at a juncture in their season when any loss considerably diminishes their chances at claiming the AL’s second wild card.
As it stands with 24 games remaining on their schedule,
Astros update
Tuesday: Astros 4, Indians 3. Record: 74-64. Today: At Cleveland, 6:10 p.m. Starting pitchers: Doug Fister (12-10) vs. Carlos Carrasco (10-7). TV/radio: Root; 790 AM, 94.1 FM (Spanish).
the Astros are two games behind Baltimore but only one back of Detroit, which lost to the Chicago White Sox
on Tuesday. The Astros’ triumph over Kluber ensured them at least a split of their four-game series against the Indians and improved their record to 10 games above .500 for the first time since July 24.
The circumstances of Gonzalez’s homer were highly improbable for reasons more than Kluber’s .074 batting average against hitters with 0-2 counts. For Gonzalez, it was the 36th home run of his career but his first with more than one runner on base. He holds one of baseball’s odder records — his first 25 career long balls were solo shots.
Mistake costs Kluber
In this case, Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus were on base after drawing two-out walks in consecutive plate appearances. Kluber, the 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner, had required only 15 pitches to record his first five outs.
“I wasn’t expecting something like that,” Gonzalez said of the curveball that Kluber left up and over the middle of the plate. “Obviously, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game, and he doesn’t give it up like that, those pitches on two strikes. I was lucky to get that pitch, and I put a good swing on it.”
Gonzalez, whose 12 homers on the season match the career high he set last year, had homered on an 0-2 pitch only twice previously as a major leaguer. Kluber had not served up a long ball on an 0-2 pitch since Detroit’s Victor Martinez took the righthander deep on Sept. 1, 2014.
Kluber lamented the two walks more than the poorly placed curveball he served up to Gonzalez, who said he was simply trying to put a ball in play.
“It was a bad pitch, and he took advantage of it,” said Kluber (15-9), who lost for the first time since July 3.
Although he later doubled twice, Gonzalez’s big blow proved the difference for the Astros, who are 3-2 on their seven-game trip to Arlington and Cleveland.
Alex Bregman’s runscoring triple in the third inning accounted for the fourth run against Kluber, who had not yielded more than three runs in any of his 10 previous starts. The AL pitcher of the month for August still completed seven innings, retiring the final 11 batters he faced.
An extreme mismatch on paper finished in the Astros’ favor.
Brad Peacock made his first major league start of the season and second in two years for the Astros, pitching the first 32⁄3 innings in what amounted to a bullpen game. Peacock allowed five hits, including three doubles, but only one run before James Hoyt (1-0), Chris Devenski and Will Harris recorded the next 10 outs in succession.
Luke Gregerson allowed a run in the eighth on Carlos Santana’s homer before retiring the last three batters he faced. Crisp, Gattis misfired on a throw to second base on a successful stolen-base attempt by Crisp, permitting Ramirez to score.
Giles recovered to get a fly out to left field from Tyler Naquin and a checkswing groundout from Brandon Guyer to strand Crisp at second. The Astros’ closer escaped with his ninth save despite throwing only 11 of his 22 pitches for strikes.
“It just wasn’t my night,” Giles said. “I didn’t feel as great as I wanted to. You’ve got to battle through those kinds of things. I found a way to get outs, and it doesn’t matter. We got a ‘W.’ ”