Offense, defense serve up road kill
Inept performance brings streak to end at Cole’s expense
ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Astros often laud the depth within their 25-man roster. It allows manager A.J. Hinch comfort to grant his star players occasional days off and, often, presents little stress when the injuries or other circumstances that accompany a baseball season arise.
Take Thursday, for instance, when the Astros picked up their 11th straight road win without their starting shortstop or first baseman. Or the four-game sweep they completed without Carlos Correa in Arlington two weeks ago. It began an unblemished 10-game road trip.
Friday night presented the alternative. Three of the Astros’ first five everyday hitters did not play in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Correa nursed a sore back, Yuli Gurriel celebrated the birth of his second son, and George Springer required a respite from the 4-for-54 slump he carried into the game.
The makeshift defensive alignment this caused committed two fourth-inning errors, sullying Gerrit Cole’s gritty start for a loss he hardly deserved.
Cole labored through six innings. He permitted a baserunner in every frame but the first. A shoddy showing by a defense that committed two errors offered no help.
Before the fourth inning, Cole
had not permitted a leadoff man aboard. After falling behind David Robertson 2-0 to begin that inning, Cole offered a two-seam fastball that ran in.
Robertson dribbled it up the third-base line, a chopper hit so weakly Alex Bregman’s only choice was to barehand. He could not secure it and Robertson reached. The Rays put him in motion during Cole’s next pitch, an elevated curveball which Joey Wendle slapped near shortstop.
Shaded behind second base in the shift, Marwin Gonzalez could not return to his position in time to field it. The hit-andrun worked flawlessly, placing runners at the corners after four pitches.
“Some unfortunate luck,” Cole said.
Adeiny Hechavarria then lifted a fly ball 405 feet away to center field. Jake Marisnick tracked it onto the outfield dirt, glancing once at the wall he was about to hit. He secured the baseball, fell into the wall and let it bounce out, a rare error for a man routinely called baseball’s most underrated defensive outfielder by his teammates.
“Looked back up and just got kind of off track and wasn’t able to come up with it,” Marisnick said. “That’s a play I need to make 10 out of 10 times. Got to make that play.”
The fatal fourth
In the moment, Marisnick’s gaffe was benign. The fly ball, if it was caught, was more than deep enough to score Robertson. It allowed Hechavarria to remain aboard, though,
Mallex Smith advanced both runners with a sacrifice. Cole struck out nine-hole hitter Willy Adames on three pitches. Only leadoff hitter Kevin Kiermaier stood between Cole and a masterful escape.
Kiermaier saw one pitch, a curveball he rolled toward Gonzalez, filling in for Correa at shortstop for a fourth straight game. Gonzalez collected the tailor-made third out. Hinch said Gonzalez rushed the throw, cognizant of Kiermaier’s speed. The throw was low.
Of the major league first basemen with at least 20 opportunities to “scoop” a throw, none had a better success rate than Gurriel. For him, this presents no problem.
For AJ Reed, however, such imprecision was unsalvageable. Reed was making his major league debut for this season. The throw skirted by him and into the Rays’ bullpen, allowing two unearned runs to score against Cole in the fourth inning.
“We get a little unlucky that Reed deflects it a little far away, we don’t pick the ball,” Hinch said. “In a game like this, you look back and it’s a tough inning.”
Hinch’s offense magnified the mistakes. It collected three hits. One came with two outs in the ninth inning. It was no-hit for 42⁄3 innings by Rays starter Wilmer Font — a man who, twice this season, has been designated for assignment and traded.
In the 39 innings that preceded this start, Font surrendered 12 home runs. The Astros hit four against him while he was with the Athletics. He arrived in Oakland after beginning the season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The A’s shipped him to the Rays on May 25. When he arrived, the team instructed Font, a former Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year, to pitch where he was most comfortable — from the third-base side of the rubber. He did not do so while with his other two clubs.
“He’s done a good job since coming over here,” Bregman said. “We knew that coming in.”
The right Font
Six days ago, Font collected his first major league win, twirling 52⁄3 scoreless innings of three-hit baseball against the mighty New York Yankees.
Against the defending World Series champions on Friday, Font allowed two baserunners. Max Stassi’s two-out double in the fifth inning was the Astros’ only hit against him. He pounded the Astros with a steady stream of four-seam fastballs that ranged from 95-97 mph.
“He had a little angle on his heater, a little giddy up on it,” Marisnick said. “It was coming in hot. He was locating, throwing well.”
Font exited unceremoniously in the sixth. Eight of Font’s first nine pitches in the sixth were balls. Half were followed by an uncomfortable shake of Font’s right arm. After the ninth pitch, Rays manager Kevin Cash emerged with a trainer and removed Font with what the team described as a “right lat strain.”
Diego Castillo emerged and faced Bregman, Springer’s replacement in the leadoff spot whom Font had taken to a 3-1 count. Bregman clobbered Castillo’s third pitch into the leftfield seats.
No other Astro hit safely until Evan Gattis’ two-out single in the ninth inning.
“We couldn’t get anything started,” Hinch said. “Didn’t do much either way.”