Keuchel fans 11, pitches 4-hitter in Astros shutout
HOUSTON—With techno music blaring, Dallas Keuchel emerged from a thick fog in the darkened clubhouse as multicolored beams of light danced around him, illuminating his bushy beard and he smiled.
Keuchel had just wrapped up a four-hitter where he struck out a career-high 11 to lead the Houston Astros to a 3-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. Heavy rain caused minor flooding inside Minute Maid Park during the game, but there were no delays.
Afterward, the Astros celebrated Keuchel’s win by transforming the clubhouse into a club, complete with a strobe light, fog machine and multiple lamps that sent lights of all colors to every corner of the room.
“I just continue to pitch well and hopefully help this team win and have a dance party in here afterward if we win,” Keuchel said.
Storms swept through the area as the teams played and water seeped into a couple of concourses in the stadium. Drainage issues caused flooding of three to four inches and the water stood for about 5 or 6 minutes, according to the Astros.
The public address announcer told fans during the seventh inning that the stadium would remain open after the game for those who wanted to wait out the weather. Only a handful of fans remained in the stadium an hour after the game.
There was an announcement around 6:45 p.m. that the weather had passed and people needed to leave the ballpark because the doors would close at 7 p.m.
By then, the Astros had closed out another win.
Keuchel (7-1) pitched his second career shutout and first since May 13, 2014. He didn’t walk a batter and finished with a major league-leading 1.76 ERA after throwing his eighth complete game overall.
Winning is something the Astros have done plenty of this season after several miserable years of losing. They improved to 31-19, tying the 1998 team that won a franchise-high 102 times for the best 50-game start in team history.
“It’s nice to be a part of something like that where the past two years we were pretty much down and everybody counted us out,” first baseman Chris Carter said. “So it’s nice to get this recognition now and hopefully we can keep doing (this).”
Evan Gattis and Carter hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth.
Jose Quintana (2-6) allowed one run in 6 1-3 innings.
Keuchel bounced back from his first loss of the season in his last start, which broke a careerhigh eight-game winning streak dating to last season. The Astros lost that game 4-3 to Baltimore despite Keuchel throwing his first complete game of the season.
“He was great,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “I don’t know if we faced anybody as tough as him.”