Rookies Heston, Duffy lead Giants past Astros, 8-1
HOUSTON—In recent Giants lore, no two rookie sensations have made an impact like Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum.
Two current Giants rookies equaled their feats Tuesday night in an 8-1 victory Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
Chris Heston became the first Giants rookie to record 10 strikeouts since Tim Lincecum in 2007, dominating with a whipsaw two-seamer while throwing a two-hitter for his first career complete game.
Matt Duffy became the first Giants rookie to knock in five runs since Posey in 2010, hitting a bases-clearing double in the second inning and a two-run single in the fifth.
Heston did not walk a batter and yielded just a home run to Jason Castro while becoming the first Giants rookie to strike out 10 in a complete game since Roger Mason on Oct. 4, 1985, vs. Atlanta.
He was more than a match for Collin McHugh, an 18th-round pick who most certainly is not Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan or Mike Scott but has been even tougher to beat in a Houston uniform over the past eight months.
The Astros had set a franchise record by winning 11 consecutive starts with McHugh on the mound—a streak that dated to Aug. 28 of last season, and a streak that Duffy, Heston and the Giants abruptly cut off.
McHugh was trying to win his 12th consecutive decision, which would have matched the franchise record held by Wade Miller and Mark Portugal. (Incidentally, the Giants, behind Jason Schmidt, also busted Miller’s streak in 2002, beating him one day before they clinched the wild card in the season’s final weekend.)
The No.8 hitter did him in. Duffy stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the second inning, a situation that mushroomed after Brandon Belt and Justin Maxwell singled and Brandon Crawford was hit by a pitch.
Duffy jumped on a first-pitch fastball, drilling it to the wall in left-center to clear the bases.
Duffy capped an even bigger rally in the fifth. Joe Panik hit a one-out single to extend his hitting streak to nine games, Angel Pagan singled and Buster Posey hit a hard shot that was scored uncharitably as an error on third baseman Luis Valbuena. Justin Maxwell followed with a ground ball that shortstop Marwin Gonzalez fielded and threw wide to second base for an error as two runs scored; the play originally was scored an error on second baseman Jose Altuve, but Maxwell eventually received credit for a single and one RBI.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch, apparently unaware that Crawford has crushed lefties for a year and a half, summoned left-hander Kevin Chapman. Crawford crushed a ground-rule double that made it 6-0. Then Duffy lined a tworun single to cap the five-run rally.
It was the first time all season that the Giants scored more than six runs in a game, ending the longest such streak in franchise history dating at least to 1914.