A booming Fourth
Relentless attack makes hitting 30 games over .500 a breeze
ATLANTA — Light afternoon showers forced the Astros to the indoors cages for batting practice Tuesday, so their first swings on the field at SunTrust Park didn’t come until first pitch.
Come game time, they did their part to break in Atlanta’s beautiful new ballpark.
In a 16-4 thrashing of the Braves that improved their record to 30 games above .500, the Astros racked up 19 hits, including 10 for extra bases. They had seven doubles, which matched the season-high they set in their previous game Sunday against the New York Yankees. Josh Reddick capped the action with a 417-foot grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning.
The Astros’ 57-27 record obliterated the franchise record for quickest to reach 30 games over .500, set in the 130th game of the 1998 season. They were last 30 games above .500 when 90-60 on Sept. 24, 2001. On this July 4, they stretched the franchise record for largest division lead to 16 games.
Newly minted 2017 All-Stars George Springer and Jose Altuve each homered and doubled. The scorching Yuli Gurriel smacked two doubles and drove in four runs. Alex Bregman, the only Astros infielder with a sub-.800 OPS, added two doubles of his own. The first seven runs came against Braves rookie lefthander
Sean Newcomb, who lasted only 31⁄3 innings.
“We really don’t have a part in our order right now that’s too comfortable for the opponent,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
The top three batters in the Astros’ order — Springer, Altuve and Reddick — combined for 10 hits and nine RBIs. Tuesday marked the first game all season in which Hinch batted Altuve second and Reddick third. He did it to protect Springer, who in every at-bat but his first batted behind the pitcher.
“It can go any order,” Hinch said. “I could lead off Reddick (Wednesday) and, outside of hearing it from Springer, it would be fine. Those guys at the top set the tone.”
The Astros, who are 30-9 in road games and 6-0 in interleague play, scored in every inning but the first, sixth and eighth on Tuesday. Brad Peacock gave the team its first start of six innings since Mike Fiers on June 21 against the Oakland Athletics. Peacock cruised through six scoreless before unraveling in a threerun seventh.
Springer had four hits. His homer, a solo, oppositefield fly ball that just kept on carrying, gives him 25 through the Astros’ first 84 games. He ranks second in the majors behind Aaron Judge, who launched his 28th earlier Tuesday. Lance Berkman (29 in 2002) and Jeff Bagwell (28 in 1999, 27 in 1994) are the only players in Astros history with more homers before the All-Star break than Springer has this year.
Springer is on pace to set a new gold standard when it comes to power for a leadoff hitter. Alfonso Soriano holds the record for most homers hit in a season while batting out of the leadoff spot: 39, a mark he reached in 2006 for the Washington Nationals.
After wasting a leadoff double by Springer in the first, the Astros strung together doubles by Marwin Gonzalez and Gurriel to plate a run in the second. They broke out for four runs while batting around in the third, the first of which scored on Springer’s homer and the other three on Gurriel’s second double.
The production continued a torrid streak for Gurriel, who has opened July with three consecutive three-hit games. In that span he has two homers, four doubles and 10 RBIs. The Cuban first baseman has improved his OPS to .810 through 276 at-bats.
The Astros tacked on two more runs in the fourth but saw All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa jam his left thumb on an inning-ending headfirst slide into Braves catcher Tyler Flowers at home plate. X-rays came back negative. The team, which called the diagnosis “left thumb discomfort,” said Correa’s status is day to day.
Altuve lined his homer, a two-run shot, in the seventh to extend the Astros’ lead to 12-0. Reddick’s grand slam, a no-doubter to right field against reliever Jason Motte, capped the scoring.
“I was just trying to get some runs in. I wasn’t trying to get them all in,” Reddick said. “It just worked out that way.”