Of course. After giving Arias the Man of the Match, he goes and nuts it with two errors, and had it not been for Coste's scoop, could have been three, in a 4-3 loss. But the heartbreaker here is that the Astros should have come away taking three of four from the Dodgers in LA, and that would have been quite a feat, and it would have been a clutch win with the Cubs and Cardinals both winning today. Let's do the thing:
Ortiz: 6IP, 5H/2ER, 4K:2BB, 10/24 first-pitch strikes, 21/64 non-contact strikes (15 called:6 swinging)
Arias: 1IP, 1H/1ER, 1BB, 4/7 FPS, 4/12 NCS (4c:0s)
LaHawk: 1IP, 2H/1ER, 1/4 FPS, 2/13 NCS (2c:0s)
In three of Ortiz' six innings, the leadoff batter got on base - twice on walks. and it's worth noting that the Dodgers only had six instances, in 150 total pitches, in which they swung and missed the ball completely. This is also the second game in a row in which a pitcher has made a costly error that didn't show up in the box score. Arias' earned run streak is now at 22.1IP, though it's not as fun to keep track of any more after nutting a catch and a throw consecutively.
Brad Ausmus had two RBI doubles that brought the score from 3-0 to 3-2. And LaHawk gave up a big ol' homer to Matt Kemp to put the Dodgers ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th. Broxton didn't have the same problems today that he had last night, getting 2Ks in a perfect 9th.
Offensively, Bourn was der partistarter, reaching on an error in the first and doubling (later scoring in the 3rd). The third is where all the magic happened, with Bourn's leadoff double, Keppinger popped out, Tejada lined out. Lee singled, and Blum homered to account for all three runs - all with two outs. The Astros were 2x12 with RISP, and left nine on base.
Man of the Match: Geoff Blum. 1x2 with 2RBI and 2 walks.
Goat of the Game: Sorry, Alberto.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
