Sweep as easy as lineup’s 1-2-3
Springer, Altuve, Reddick combine to hit 18-for-31 with 15 RBIs in back-to-back routs
ATLANTA — The All-Stars atop the Astros’ lineup had quite the two-game series at Atlanta’s new ballpark.
George Springer and Jose Altuve each compiled three-hit nights in a 10-4 victory Wednesday night that completed the twogame sweep at SunTrust Park. Both drove in and scored runs in a three-run seventh inning that sparked a late scoring onslaught.
For the series, Springer and Altuve batted a combined 13-for20 with two home runs, three doubles, 10 runs scored and eight RBIs. Include Josh Reddick, who doubled twice Wednesday, and the Astros’ top three were 18-for31 with 15 RBIs.
The Astros (58-27) scored six unanswered runs over the seventh and eighth innings Wednesday to break a 4-4 tie. They racked up seven doubles for a third consecutive game, a feat that dating to at least 1913 only the 1999 Cleveland Indians had accomplished previously. They had 16 hits in all, giving them an astounding 35 for the two games.
Springer again proved the catalyst. A career .266 hitter, he used three singles in five at-bats to raise his batting average to an even .300. Perhaps more notably, he stole two bases, ending his mystifying drought of 106 games without one and taking away that distinction from Astros catcher Brian McCann.
“I picked him off. I got him,” Springer said of McCann. “I’m coming for Jake (Marisnick) next, and he knows it. He better start hitting some singles and stealing some bases because I’m coming for him.”
Marisnick, for the record, has five steals this season.
Springer, who will start in his first MLB All-Star Game on
Tuesday in Miami, raised his OPS to .968, just .025 better than Altuve’s, a five-time All-Star. Altuve singled twice and doubled once on Wednesday. Reddick, Marwin Gonzalez and Yuli Gurriel each had two-hit nights.
“(He’s) one of my favorite players in the league,” Altuve said of Springer. “He’s a superstar.”
Chris Devenski, Will Harris and Tony Sipp combined for 31 ⁄3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Joe Musgrove earned a no-decision in his return from his demotion to Class AAA, a start in which he looked dominant for most of it and then at the end suddenly very hittable. Musgrove shaky in 5th
Musgrove cruised through the first four innings, a span in which he faced just one batter more than the minimum and looked as good as he had all season. Then came the fifth, which unraveled on him on a two-strike, twoout fastball to the opposing pitcher, Jaime Garcia.
A 94 mph pitch leaked over the middle of the plate and Garcia smacked it sharply into left field past diving third baseman Alex Bregman. Two runners in scoring position scored to halve the Astros’ lead to 4-2.
Two pitches later, Braves All-Star centerfielder Ender Inciarte lifted a changeup high in the air and over the right-field wall for a game-tying, tworun shot. In two at-bats, the complexion of Musgrove’s evening changed.
All of the damage came with two outs in the inning. Musgrove said he apologized to catcher Evan Gattis for shaking him off in an 0-2 count to Tyler Flowers from a slider to a fastball, on which Flowers singled to begin the rally.
“To be that good throughout my outing and then kind of spoil it like that in the last inning was tough, but I felt really good,” Musgrove said. “I feel like I built a lot from my last outing in Fresno, and today I felt really good.”
Musgrove described his demotion as “almost like a mental rehab.” Although he worked on his delivery while in Class AAA, he might have most benefited from simply regrouping away from the team for the 10 days.
“All in all, I was pleased with his performance,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He was executing a much more aggressive game plan, where he was relying a little bit more on his fastball, which was good to see.” Springer flashes speed
The Astros had spotted Musgrove a 4-0 lead with a run on three singles in the first inning and three more on two doubles and two singles in the fifth. Springer got his first stolen base of the night in the fifth on a double steal he executed with Altuve. He swiped second base in the seventh.
Springer’s drought of games without a stolen base dated to Aug. 31. No leadoff hitter in Astros history had previously gone more than 80 games without at least one stolen base. He had attempted only three this season before Wednesday after converting just nine of 19 attempts last year.
“He’s off probation,” Hinch quipped.