Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros continued to do good things and everyone's favorite closer got in a game for the first time in a week to shut it down. Astros win, 4-2, their 7th comeback win of the season. Houston is back on top in the AL West by a half-game.

*McCullers: 5IP, 5H/2ER, 3K:4BB. 52 of his 89 pitches were for strikes. Peacock (2IP, 3K), Devenski (1IP) and Giles (1IP, 1H) held Oakland to one hit and four strikeouts over the last four innings.

McCullers threw 26 changeups (a career-high tied with his last start) to 28 curves. McCullers:
My breaking ball has been a little bit elusive so far this year. I've flashed it at times, but it's hard when you know how to pitch one way and that way is not really there for you....If anyone knows where my curveball's at, I'd like it overnighted to Minute Maid. 

Hinch, on Giles getting the game-ending GIDP, one week after getting blown up against the Yankees:
It was nice to see him close out the game, especially under a little bit of duress...He's coming off some emotional outings, and for him to get the ball where he needed, it's nice to see.

Oakland scored their two runs on McCullers' Wild Pitch (he had two) and a sac fly.

*McCullers and the Astros showed Class when McCullers stepped off the mound before Stephen Piscotty's first AB to let the crowd give him a standing ovation. McCullers:
It's tough, man. I feel for him and I feel for his family. From everything I've heard he's an awesome guy. I just wanted him to have some time to be able to come up and have the fans recognize him. I wanted that moment to be his.

Emotional standing O for Stephen's first AB. Then he singled for Gretchen. pic.twitter.com/RvY80qu7Z0

— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) May 9, 2018

*George Springer was 2x4 with a walk and 2RBI. Springer's last ten games: 18x45 (.400), 9 RBI.

*Other two-hit games: Gurriel, Marwin. Marwin Gonzalez is 7x14 in his last three games.

*Bregman hit his 3rd home run of the season. He got his 3rd HR in the Astros' 45th game of the season in 2017.

*Seeing as how the bottom of the lineup actually got some hits last night (5-9 in the lineup: 6x20, three runs scored), Hinch is pleased:
The first two games here, we've gotten production out of the bottom of the order and that sets up nicely for the top of the order. When the bottom of the order contributes, it's a complete lineup.

*FanGraphs: The Astros aren't the only team adding spin.

*Speaking of spin rate, it's worth mentioning that the Friday, May 18 pitching matchup is projected to be Tyler Bauer vs. Justin Verlander.

*Now at 47 straight games, Carlos Correa is six games shy of tying Adam Everett's franchise-high errorless streak.

*Over at WTHB, Jayne has a great interview with Corpus 1B Taylor Jones who is...no longer under the radar.

*Couple of notable minor-league transactions yesterday:
-Justin Ferrell was promoted from Buies Creek to Corpus. Ferrell had thrown 16.2IP, 6H/3ER, 24K:4BB.
-JJ Matijevic was promoted from Quad Cities to Buies Creek. Matijevic was hitting .354/.446/.708.

*Brett Adcock was a little more wild last night for Buies Creek, but ran his scoreless IP streak to 17 with 5IP, 2H/0ER, 7K:5BB. Wild West Sheriff Kit Scheetz struck out eight in four perfect innings.

*James Paxton became the first Canadian to throw a no-hitter in Canada. ESPN's David Schoenfield asks if Paxton is for real or not. Having watched him dominate the Astros for three years (which probably means I've watched more Mariners games than all of ESPN's writers combined), yeah, I'd say James Paxton is for real.

*SI: Paxton's no-hitter is a perfect example of modern baseball.

*Charlie Crockett, descendant of David Crockett (NOTE: NOT "DAVY") talked music, race, and Texas. He's playing at the Houston House of Blues Friday night.

*Andre Dawson has owned a funeral home in Florida for ten years.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Just about the only one who gets to take a shower using hot water is Justin Verlander. Pretty much everybody else was slightly-above-room-temperature garbage. The offense couldn't take advantage of what was essentially a Yankees bullpen day and Ken Giles is awesome until he's not.

*Hinch:
Our at-bats were less than our best tonight. We didn't have our best night offensively. Whether that was against Montgomery or whether that was against a bullpen we haven't seen a ton is irrelevant.

*In 14 away games the Astros are hitting .280/.366/.441 (an .807 OPS).
  In 17 home games the Astros are hitting .230/.305/.368 (a .673 OPS).

*Justin Verlander threw 8IP, 3H/0ER, 14K:0BB. Did Verlander have enough in the tank (after throwing 105 pitches) for the 9th? Verlander:
It's just kind of that one 30-second break where mentally I thought I was done and I didn't think it was right to kind of re-engage and say 'No, no, no let's go back out there.'

His Game Score of 96 is the highest for an Astro since Mike Fiers' no-hitter of the 2015 Dodgers (who would go on to lose the World Series to the Astros in 2017) recorded a 94. It's the highest for Verlander since his 92 on August 26, 2015 against Anaheim.

It's the 8th 90+ Game Score by an Astros starting pitcher since the beginning of the 1995 season. Clemens never did it. Pettitte never did it. Randy Johnson never did it.

A.J. Hinch: "Everything feels bad when shit like that happens."

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 2, 2018

*Giles faced five batters, four of them reached base including Gary Sanchez's three-run home run. Giles:
I tried to be aggressive in the zone and power him down with some sliders. I made a horrible pitch, and he deserved to hit it over the fence. That's how it goes.

Uh, Kenneth? We need to talk:

🎶'Cause you had a bad day🎶 pic.twitter.com/5xHNe9JULh

— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 2, 2018

I mean, I'm not one to comment on another person's mental health but I'd maybe bring somebody in for a chat.

*Yuli Gurriel had two of the Astros' six hits. 5-9 in the lineup went 2x17 with 8K:0BB.

*Trevor Tyler Bauer kinda sorta hinted that the Astros weren't doing anything on the up and up.

National Treasure Alex Bregman responded:

Relax Tyler ... those World Series balls spin a little different.... 😭 https://t.co/MZ7iIPXhbC

— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) May 1, 2018

The disrespect is blatant, and gorgeous.

McHugh got in on it:

If only there was this thing where people who had been around baseball a long time taught people who hadn’t been around as long. Imagine the possiblity for improvement yr over yr! We could call it coaching! https://t.co/WI4X1TCbaW

— Collin McHugh (@Collin_McHugh) May 1, 2018

Astros players wouldn't comment on Trevor Bauer's accusations but manager AJ Hinch minced no words.
"People need to sweep their own from porch," he said. pic.twitter.com/Py17kpWedL

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 1, 2018

So did Lance:

Jealousy isn’t a good look on you my man. You have great stuff and have worked hard for it, like the rest of us, no need for this. I will ask though because my spin rate and spin axis on my 4 seem is a$$. https://t.co/jvbLuWWqgN

— Lance McCullers Jr. (@LMcCullers43) May 1, 2018

*Eno Sarris goes deep on the connection between pine tar, spin rate, and the Astros in The Athletic. Key paragraph:
It might be tempting to point out that Houston has the highest spin rate in the league, but that's also not very damning. When the team got Collin McHugh, they mentioned spin rate as a reason, and on the same list of high-spin pitchers that produced Collin McHugh sat Charlie Morton. It's very hard to prove that a team is using pine tar to increase spin, particularly when that team has already been (known for) selecting high-spin pitchers in the past.

What this will do is (rightfully get) Tyler Bauer soundly booed next weekend if he starts during the Cleveland series. Let's look at that right quick. Bauer started Monday night's game against Seattle. IF he goes every fifth game, here's how it would go:

April 30 v Seattle
May 4 @ New York
May 11 v Kansas City
May 16 @ Detroit
May 23 @ Chicago (Cubs)

Missing in that list is the Houston series, May 18-20. Even if you look at every fifth day, due to the weirdness of their schedule (the Indians have May 7, May 10, and May 17 off), it doesn't work out for Tyler to start in Houston. Of course, it's possible that Tyler Bauer and Terry Francona work the schedule so that he can, but who knows?

What this episode also does is provide ammunition for the sinners who walk in our world with impunity just looking for a reason to hate the Astros. There have been allusions to the incredulity around the Astros pitching staff without anyone coming right out and saying that they have Suspicions:

Giancarlo Stanton:
He's throwing five to eight miles an hour harder than when I saw him last. You do that and mix your pitches, it's going to be a nice little battle.

Jean Segura:
It's unbelievable. He goes from throwing 91 four years ago and now he's throwing 98. I don't get it. I thought when you get older your velocity goes down. 

If you hate the Astros, then you seize on Tyler Bauer's accusations, who provides some Deep State rationale as to why Charlie Morton is...continuing to do what he started to do with the Phillies, I guess, but is now healthy. Whatever. Tyler Bauer couldn't pitch in a playoff game because he hurt himself playing with a drone.

Basically what I'm saying is that, if you don't chant TY-LER at Bauer every chance you get next weekend, what are you even doing with your life?

"This is total dominance."

All 61 of Gerrit Cole's strikeouts in April. pic.twitter.com/OmMD3t5wtD

— Jeff Blogwell (@tylercstafford) May 1, 2018

*With a streak that ended last night Ken Giles is now the owner of the franchise's longest streak (seven games) without allowing a baserunner. Which is kind of like saying, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?"

*A&M grad and Buies Creek starting pitcher Corbin Martin got promoted to Corpus. Martin has thrown 19IP for the High-A club, allowing 4H/1R (0ER), 26K:11BB. That a disgusting 0.00 ERA / 0.58 WHIP. He'll start for Corpus tomorrow night.

*I guess something weird happened on 790 recently. If it makes Deadspin, it's probably not good. And I've seen Zero Evidence that justifies keeping Josh Innes around.

*Mets GM Sandy Alderson threw some serious shade at Matt Harvey.

*Here's a great story on Dan Haren and his new role with the Diamondbacks.