Hey, it's not often we get to say things like, "Astros win!" any more, right?
So what if Dallas Keuchel got a little persnickety in the late innings. Let's focus on this offense.
The Astros scored eight runs on Saturday and have now scored 22 runs since Jonathan Villar has been recalled. That's...well, that's a little below their season average of 3.7 runs per game. So, I guess I don't have a point there.
Chris Carter did hit a huge 3-run home run in the first inning to stake Dallas Keuchel to an early 4-0 lead. Keuchel did well with that lead for the most part, but ran into trouble of his own in the bottom of the eighth, before Jose Veras got a rate five-out save in relief of the lefty.
You can't blame Bo Porter for not trusting his bullpen right now. It's been overworked this week. And also horrible. But, he also can't just leave his starter out there forever. Ideally, Houston would have an option to pitch the eighth inning in addition to the ninth, so Keuchel could have gone seven and turned it over to the two stoppers.
Those guys don't exist right now. Well, Jose Cisnero is a solid eighth inning guy, but he's been overused as one of the few dependable bullpen arms for the middle innings.
Who else stood out? Well, Jonathan Villar was 1 for 3 with two runs scored and a pair of walks. Color me surprised he's continued to walk in the majors. There's no way his walk rate stays up near 11 percent (where it's at right now) just like there's no way his strikeout rate stays near 40 percent. But, all these early walks are a very good sign for the young shortstop.
Oh, Justin Maxwell and Matt Dominguez also joined the homer party. Anything else of note? Any chance Houston steals the series split tomorrow behind Jarred Cosart?
