*Collin McHugh made his season debut and threw 77 pitches in 4.2IP, 4H/4ER (two two-run home runs). All four runs came in the 5th inning. Hinch:
I don't want the last inning to take away from how well he threw the ball...he pitched extraordinarily well for the first four innings.
*McHugh has added a slider to his arsenal when facing RHBs.
*The bullpen of Martes, Gregerson, and Musgrove threw 4.1IP, 0H/0ER, 5K:1BB, needing just 57 pitches to shut the game down.
*Moran fouled off a Darren O'Day pitch straight up and into his eye in the bottom of the 6th inning of his 2nd game with the Astros. I'm not embedding the video here, but if you want to see it, click this link. Hinch:
Not a great update. You know he's at the hospital getting evaluated for everything from concussion to fracture. He's going to go through an array of tests. Pretty scary incident...He wasn't feeling very well and he wanted to get off the field, like all players do. Nobody wants to sit down, and as soon as he got up, he thought he was going to pass out, kind of got nauseous. So we put him back down and called for the cart.
*Marwin pinch-hit for Moran and seconds later jacked a three-run home run on to Eutaw Street, the 93rd time a ball has been hit on the street since the park opened in 1992. The Astros also got home runs from Gurriel (his 13th) and Bregman (his 9th).
*Marwin destroyed the ball:
So, to recap that at-bat, Colin Moran was carted off the field & then pinch-hitting Marwin Gonzalez destroyed a ball.— Christian Boutwell (@_CBoutwell) July 23, 2017
387. pic.twitter.com/6MKRIMMrAM
*So what now? Moran will head to the 7-Day DL at the minimum, and the Astros will need someone at 3B. My guess is Tyler White gets that call. Last night he went 3x5 with a double and a home run and is hitting .299/.371/.517 with 19 home runs and he has played 20+ games at 2B (20 games), SS (20 games), and 3B (37 games).
*The Astros are 5-0 against Baltimore this season and are 15-4 against the Orioles dating back to 2015.
*As a team the Astros are hitting .291 w/RISP, which is nuts. But since the All-Star Break, the Astros (5-3) have gone 20x81 w/RISP (.247), but have still scored 47 runs. They're 13x66 in their last seven games (.197).
*Dallas Keuchel got his first NYPL win since August 26, 2009, throwing 5IP, 3H/1ER, 5K:0BB over 62 pitches. The ValleyCats won 5-1. Keuchel will be evaluated today and a determination on his status will be made tomorrow.
*With McHugh's return, and Keuchel's impending return, Hinch moved Joe Musgrove to the bullpen, which will give more flexibility to deploy Francis Martes. Martes threw 2.1IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:1BB. Hinch:
The way that our bullpen is constructed now with Musgrove down there, he can cover a little bit more of the length and might free up Martes to be used a little more randomly, just not a defined role.
*Orioles VP Dan Duqette doesn't sound like a guy ready to trade Zach Britton to the Astros:
This year we haven't had the starting pitching that we need, but the other elements of our ball club are intact. If we can get a little bit stronger pitching and add to the pitching, we can still make a run at this.
Baltimore is 46-51, eight games back of Boston and 4.5 back of the Rays with five teams between them.
*Jake Kaplan says that the bullpen is more vulnerable than the rotation.
*Ken Rosenthal reported that the Astros had been aggressive on Sonny Gray early last week, but talks have cooled down, and that - if he's still on the team next week - Derek Fisher will take over in LF.
*The Astros could have interest in Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn, who was drafted by Jeff Luhnow.
*Buster Olney writes that the Rangers will trade Yu Darvish if they don't think they can re-sign him in the offseason.
*Noah Syndergaard is rethinking how he trains.
*Come get your boy:
I have concerns about this couple. pic.twitter.com/eaExyOcLBl— Chicago Bars (@chicagobars) July 21, 2017
