The Astros rebounded from the disappointment of seeing me in the stands on Friday night and dominated the Rangers in a 9-3 win. After recording eleven hits through their first 18 innings, the Astros got 14 in yesterday's win.
Hinch:
I thought we made Moore work and took advantage of a couple of mistakes, put a couple of balls in play when we were deep in counts and ended up scratching out a few runs early and got the lead.
Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve had four hits each:
Correa: 7th career 4-hit game (five in 2017, one in 2016) and his third career 4-hit game against the Rangers.
Altuve: 25th career 4-hit game.
Jake Marisnick hit his 2nd home run of the season.
J.D. Davis and Alex Bregman each went 0x5.
Lance McCullers: 5.1IP, 4H/2ER, 10K:1BB, five groundouts.
It's the 9th 10+ K game in McCullers' career and the second time he's done it against the Rangers. McCullers:
I want nothing more than to take the ball 33 times for this club. That was my main goal coming into the season, and I'm going to do everything I can to make that goal a reality.
Jake Kaplan has a good piece in The Athletic about how McCullers' fastball sets up his breaking ball.
Tony Sipp's 7th inning: 10 pitches, 7 strikes, 0H/0ER, 1K:0BB
Tony Sipp's 8th inning: 22 pitches, 10 strikes, 1H/1ER, 1K:2BB
Collin McHugh got the final four outs, allowing only a walk.
*Carlos Beltran will be in Houston on Tuesday to get his World Series ring.
*Gerrit Cole will start today at 2:05pm Central in the series finale. Cole:
Early in the season, everybody is more focused on themselves, but for sure, having Justin and Lance going, two right-handers, before myself is going to be beneficial. They've just been so gracious, and being able to share information and try to get me acclimated has been an advantage, as well.
The Astros are 1.5-run favorites for today's game. Mike Minor will start for the Rangers. He hasn't started an MLB game since September 20, 2014.
*Yuli Gurriel is apparently raking in Florida as he prepares to rejoin the team on Tuesday.
*Tyler Stafford wrote about the Astros' core and the Big Red Machine.
*Braves' sideline reporter (and Houston native) Kelsey Wingert got hit in the face with a foul ball. She apparently has a fractured eye socket, but is expected to be okay. Best wishes to Kelsey and her family.
*In a good interview with David Barron, John Smoltz critiqued the way MLB as a whole handles pitchers now.
*Delino DeShields broke his hamate bone (same as Gurriel) on Friday night and is out anywhere from 4-8 weeks, and the Rangers' lack of outfield depth has the word "armageddon" being used in Dallas.
*It's not going real well for Gabe Kapler.
*Seattle's Nelson Cruz is in a walking boot after slipping on a dugout step.
*Here's an incredible story about Devin Smeltzer, a former cancer patient Chase Utley met in 2006...who is now Utley's teammate.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
