No margin for error
One slip-up by Harris yields Betts’ big blow, spoils Fiers’ fine start
In the scorebook, the first pitch reliever Will Harris threw Friday night signified the difference in the Astros’ 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
But it was a futile performance from the offense that led to the Astros’ seventh loss in 10 games.
Two days removed from a nine-run inning and 13-run output, the Astros (45-23) managed only six hits in their first matchup of the season against the Red Sox (38-29). They grounded into three double plays, the last by Evan Gattis to end the eighth inning with the tying runner, Jose Altuve, standing on third base.
Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz, who came into the day with a 4.48 ERA in his first 12 starts, allowed only four hits over 61⁄3 innings of onerun ball. Boston shortened the game behind
its late-inning relief trio of Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes and dominant closer Craig Kimbrel.
“(Pomeranz) creates a good angle to the plate,” said catcher Brian McCann, whose seventhinning solo homer off the lefthander amounted to the Astros’ lone run. “He was feeding that fourseamer, cutter in, and he’s got that good 12-6 curveball to keep you off balance. … He threw a good game.”
The Astros’ lack of offense wasted another great start by Mike Fiers, who has a 1.78 ERA in his last four outings after a 5.21 in his first nine.
A half-inning after McCann tied the game with a moonshot that landed in the second deck in right field, Red Sox star Mookie Betts ambushed a firstpitch cutter away from Harris, who has been the Astros’ best reliever this season.
“He’s obviously an MVP-quality player. I didn’t think it was that bad of a pitch. He just got the barrel out and won the game for his team,” Harris said. “I didn’t think I really made a mistake. He made a play.”
Betts also beat the Astros with his arm from right field.
In the sixth, on a twoout single by Carlos Correa hit hard and directly at Betts, Astros third-base coach Gary Pettis sent George Springer home from second and Betts’ strong and on-point throw beat Springer by several steps.
There were other missed opportunities, too.
An inning later, after McCann’s homer chased Pomeranz from the game, the Astros put two runners in scoring position with two outs for pinchhitter Nori Aoki, who worked a full count against the flamethrowing Kelly before lining out sharply to a leaping third baseman Josh Rutledge.
“I think (Pomeranz) did a good job of kind of hanging out on the outer parts of the strike zone. We chased a little bit, he got a few calls to go his way and he continued to execute his pitches and his game plan,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s got a pretty good breaking ball. … Right up to the very end, we couldn’t really solve him.”
Neither could the Red Sox really solve Fiers, who continued his string of recent successes since being told he was removed from the rotation only to return a day later. Despite a 30-pitch third inning, he completed seven innings in which he allowed one run on five hits.
Fiers, who completed seven innings in back-toback starts for the first time since 2015, improved his ERA to an even 4.00. A heavy dosage of changeups neutralized the Red Sox. Fiers retired the final 10 batters he faced. Altuve saved him a run with a diving stop at second base to end the top of the second.
“I was locked in all game,” Fiers said. “I felt really good. Just another game of getting ahead in the count and being the aggressor, not letting these guys get in too many hitter’s counts and putting them away as early as I can.”
Fiers felt like he commanded all four of his pitches. His recently refined curveball continued to be effective coming from his slightly lower arm angle. He credited defensive plays by Altuve, Correa and third baseman Alex Bregman for helping him to complete seven.
“He’s really found a way to get himself in the strike zone and mix his pitches well,” Hinch said. “His changeup was good again tonight. His curveball was good. He didn’t throw as many of them tonight. His fastball was good. He’s on a nice run here of executing his game plan and executing his pitches.”