Little errors add up to playoff-like setback
Baserunning, fielding gaffes lead to second straight loss
TORONTO — On the first day of May, Alex Bregman waged a battle more fit for October, a month the Astros have mastered and the Blue Jays hope to reach.
Bregman stewed for eight innings inside the first-base dugout. Manager Dusty Baker gave his third baseman a day of rest, but reserved the right to deploy him in an ideal scenario.
No better one existed. The tying run stood in scoring position, and the sport’s premier closer toed the rubber. A chance to make a statement hung in the balance. Houston had two outs with which to work. For Baker, these six games against the Blue Jays had a postseason feel. The matchup he created only cemented it.
“That was the best versus one of the best,” Baker said after the Astros lost 3-2 on Sunday at Rogers Centre.
Playoff baseball requires precision, a type the Astros have trademarked across the past five seasons. Marginal errors are magnified. One pitch can alter a series, and one misplay can cause chaos. A team’s best players must elevate to another echelon. Bregman is among a handful of Houston’s players with such experience. Another stood 375 feet away in right field, ready in rival colors to remind this franchise what they allowed to get away.
After a 10-pitch at-bat more apt for Game 6 or 7 than a mundane day in May, George Springer robbed Bregman of a gametying triple with a diving catch on a well-struck line drive to the right field warning track.
Bregman fouled off six twostrike fastballs against Toronto closer Jordan Romano before it. He had Houston’s only legitimate opportunity against the fearsome righthander, who recorded his third save against the Astros in the past two weeks.
Toronto, which took two of three, still has not lost a series this season.
“I definitely wouldn’t be surprised to play against them again this year,” Bregman said. “They’re such a talented ballclub, and I feel like this team in here is extremely talented as well. It’s early in the year. Not everybody is completely locked in yet, but just to see the level of player that’s on the field in this series was pretty special.”
The Astros do not need to be
playoff-ready in April or May. Six games against the Blue Jays demonstrated the progress still required.
Sunday's loss felt so much like the four that preceded it. Springer altered the game with that superhuman play. He struck two home runs in Saturday's win, too, after hitting another at Minute Maid Park last week. The display invites wonder whether the Astros, currently running a timeshare in center field with two unproven players, can compensate for his absence.
Springer did not solely carry the Astros. The team has more than enough talent to remain contenders. Last season demonstrated it. Sunday's game did not.
Tiny mistakes ruined any hope of holding a slim lead. Shortstop Jeremy Peña's error extended a game-deciding eighth inning. Framber Valdez committed a cardinal sin and lost a shot at history.
Niko Goodrum's baserunning gaffe extinguished a threat against Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman in the fourth. Catcher Alejandro Kirk picked off the sparingly used utilityman after he strayed too far from first base on a ball in the dirt.
Gausman tore through the Astros for seven stunning innings. Perhaps prolonging the fourth ends his day earlier.
Gausman accepted the mistake without hesitation. Opponents chased outside the strike zone 56.5 percent of the time during Gausman's first four starts. No other major league pitcher generated a chase rate higher than 43 percent. Sunday, he struck out 10 Astros and generated 22 swings and misses.
Gausman allowed two runs and scattered six hits across seven innings. He did not walk a batter. He hasn't walked one all season, a string of 312⁄3 innings. He threw 19 firstpitch strikes, pummeling the Astros with a disgusting splitter he paired with
a mid-90s four-seam fastball. And slider. Eight of Gausman's 10 strikeouts ended on the splitter. He generated 14 swings and misses with it.
“He's a great pitcher,” said Aledmys Díaz, who struck a run-scoring single against him in the sixth. “He was able to mix his breaking ball early in the count and throw it for a strike. He was hitting the corners and being aggressive early in the count. You have to tip your cap to that guy.”
Goodrum rolled a runscoring double through two infielders against him in the seventh, tying the game on the back of Valdez's wizardry.
Valdez matched Gausman frame for frame with an antithetical approach. Valdez struck out only two and surrendered 19 balls in play. He generated 14 groundball outs and benefited from the fabulous defense behind him. Valdez carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, a feat few thought feasible against Toronto's lethal lineup.
Luck brought Valdez within reach of history. Bo Bichette barreled a 111.2 mph line drive during the first. It flew right into Peña's glove. Springer, Kirk and Santiago Espinall all struck outs with 102.6 mph exit velocities. Both Springer and Espinal's liners carried expected batting averages of .790. Both became outs.
Valdez walked Springer to start the game. He issued another to Matt Chapman in the fifth. Neither free pass haunted him. He could not overcome a third. With a nohitter intact and one out during the sixth, Valdez opened up too early in his delivery. A two-strike sinker slipped from his grasp and struck Bradley Zimmer in the ribs.
Valdez reacted incredulously. Fans booed the action. An athletic trainer tended to Zimmer, who remained in the game after a brief respite. Plunking the nine-hole hitter is never wise. Doing it with Toronto's lineup is more problematic. Springer and Bichette
loomed for a third look at Houston's lefthander.
Springer struck a fielder's choice that cut down Zimmer at second base. Bichette arrived with a clear directive to hunt on the outer half of the strike zone. Valdez placed a 1-1 cutter where Bichette looked. The two-hole hitter hammered it for a tworun home run, ending any thought of history. Valdez said afterward he had no qualms with the pitch execution.
“We were trying to throw a sinker down,” catcher Martín Maldonado said.
“Just kind of missed up (and) away, but you don't see hitters hit that pitch often. He did a pretty good job of staying on it. You saw the results.”
Peña did not field a routine ground ball with one out and one on in the seventh. Valdez left as a result. Reliever Phil Maton entered and yielded the game-winning single to Espinal.
Peña struck out four times Sunday, including to finish the game, and committed that crucial error.