Morton pays for mistake as offense goes quiet
Wieters’ HR in 4th allows Washington to extend dominance
With his power sinker and curveball combination, Charlie Morton has limited the long balls this season.
His outing was marred by one Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
A fastball Morton left over the plate to Matt Wieters in the fourth inning of the Astros’ 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals proved decisive in the interleague series opener between the second- and third-best teams in baseball. The American League leaders left eight runners on base in the game and squandered bases-loaded, one-out situations in the third and eighth innings.
Wieters’ two-run homer to straightaway center field with two outs in the fourth became the game-winner when the Astros (76-49) failed to score over the game’s final six innings. They wasted two scoreless innings of relief from Chris Devenski, who retired the six batters he faced in a bounce-back performance.
Morton, who has allowed only 12 homers in 19 starts this season, was charged with four earned runs in six innings. He allowed five hits, one fewer than the Nationals mustered in the game. For Washington (75-48), they were enough. A two-out, two-run triple by Howie Kendrick in the third inning also came off a misplaced fastball by Morton.
“Two bad pitches. Two outs,” Morton said. “Just real bad spots.”
The Astros have lost nine consecutive games to the Nationals, an opponent they haven’t beaten since their move to the AL before the 2013 season. Though on paper a marquee matchup, this week’s series was sapped of a layer of intrigue by injuries to key players on both sides.
Like the Astros, who are without shortstop Carlos Correa, starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., reliever Will Harris and catchers Brian McCann and Evan Gattis, the Nationals’ injury report reads like a who’s who of All-Stars or franchise fixtures.
Injuries galore
Outfielder Bryce Harper hasn’t played since Aug. 12 because of a hyperextended left knee. Shortstop Trea Turner has been out since June 29 because of a non-displaced fracture in his right wrist. Outfielder Jayson Werth hasn’t played in the majors since June 3 because of a foot injury. A knee injury has sidelined outfielder Adam Eaton since April.
The Nats also are missing relievers Ryan Madson (finger sprain) and Koda Glover (lower back stiffness) among others. They are expecting to get back their ace and the National League Cy Young Award front-runner in Max Scherzer (neck inflammation) on Friday night against the New York Mets.
But because of all of the absences, neither the Astros nor Nationals can truly view these three games as a litmus test ahead of the postseason. Their lineups will look much different a month from now, let alone come October.
“I don’t really believe in measuring sticks,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “The season is our measuring stick.”
Despite their injuries, the Astros and Nationals feature the two best offenses in baseball. The Astros (.840) are the only team in the majors with a better OPS than the Nats (.799).
“They can hit,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “They’re an aggressive club. They run. They play good defense. Much like us, they’re capable of a big inning.”
The big inning eluded the Astros on Tuesday, though they jumped ahead early with single runs in each of the first three innings. George Springer singled, stole second base and scored on a two-out single by Josh Reddick in the first. Carlos Beltran doubled and scored on a Derek Fisher two-out single in the second.
The Nationals evened the score with two runs off Morton in the third. Kendrick plated both with his triple off the center-field wall two at-bats after Michael Taylor beat out a wouldbe 5-4-3 double play when first baseman Yuli Gurriel couldn’t corral Jose Altuve’s throw.
Another two-out single by Reddick in the third put the Astros back on top, but the lead didn’t last long. Nationals third baseman and Houston native Anthony Rendon extended the fourth with a two-out double to right-center field. Wieters made Morton pay for his fastball over the middle with his go-ahead, two-run blast to center.
Nationals starter Tanner Roark settled in after the Astros’ early runs and completed 52⁄3 innings despite a pitch count of 115. The Astros squandered bases loaded with one out in the third when Marwin Gonzalez struck out and Beltran grounded out.
Devenski shines
Devenski, the Astros’ All-Star reliever who had struggled of late, pitched two perfect innings over the seventh and eighth, his first multi-inning appearance since July 23. Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the Astros was the manner in which Devenski attacked hitters. Of the 21 pitches he threw, 15 were strikes.
“He was really efficient in the first and coming back and having a clean second inning will be a boost for his confidence,” Hinch said. “He’s pretty hard on himself, and I think good outings like this will start to kind of re-establish his belief in throwing strikes. When he’s in the strike zone, you see the swings you get because of the changeup.”
The Astros had a prime opportunity to tie or go ahead in the eighth. After Reddick and Gurriel strung together singles, Gonzalez sacrificed them into scoring position. The Nats countered by intentionally walking Beltran to face Max Stassi.
In rationalizing the sacrifice bunt, Hinch cited Nats reliever Brandon Kintzler and his heavy sinker as the reason. Gonzalez also had struck out in each of his three prior at-bats.
“I’m not a big fan of the bunt all the time,” Hinch said. “We did need to try to ignite some form of offense to put some pressure on them, something we hadn’t done the previous five or six innings. It didn’t work out.”
Stassi grounded into an inning-ending double play after fouling off four consecutive 94 or 95 mph sinkers. J.D. Davis, Springer and Alex Bregman went down in order in the ninth against Nationals closer Sean Doolittle.
“I was looking to obviously elevate that sinker,” Stassi said. “I want to drive the ball in the outfield and (Kintzler) just executed another one on me. I’ve got to tip my cap to him. He won that battle.”