A do-over? Are you kidding me, umpires? Astros lose 5-2, but the biggest story wasn't how the Astros played like hell from innings 2-9, but how the umpires overturned a call, brought the teams back out onto the field, and continued play.
ESPN:
With Mike Aviles on second and one out, Yuniesky Betancourt hit a soft liner that shortstop Geoff Blum appeared to trap. Second-base umpire Mike Everitt missed the call, ruling the ball had been caught in the air, and Blum stepped on second to double off Aviles for what appeared to be the final out...Yost came trotting out of the dugout to argue, but the umpires were already gathering before he got there. After deliberating for several minutes, they overturned the call and brought both teams back out to the field. Aviles was placed on third, and Betancourt was ruled out even though Blum never threw to first, as the umpires ruled that it was assumed that Betancourt would have been thrown out.
MLB.com:
"I didn't catch it," Blum said. "I looked up and I saw the runner stop, so I was thinking about going to third. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw that there was no call, so I looked to the second-base umpire, then he made the out call, so I went to second base and tried to play it off. It almost worked."
Well, anyway. You can read more for yourself, on to the County Clerk's musings...
*This marks the 29th game in which the Astros have scored two or fewer runs. And they're 2-27.
*It's also the 32nd game in which the Astros have given up five or more runs. And they're 4-28.
*The Astros scored two runs in the first inning for the fourth time this season. They haven't scored more than four runs in the first inning all season, and this was the seventh time the Astros have scored 2+ runs in the first.
*Astros in the first inning: 2x3, BB, 2R. Astros in innings 2-9: 4x26, 7K:BB.
*The Royals in innings 1-6: 3x21, 2K:1BB ROE. 7th inning: 3x7, BB, 4R.
*All five of the Royals runs came with two outs. Meaning that, of the 22 runs the Royals scored in this series, 15 were with two outs in the inning.
*Berkman was 2x4 on the night. It's his 11th multi-hit game of the season, and his first since June 6, going 2x29 from June 6 to last night, and lowering his batting average 29 points in the process.
*After giving up 5ER in four starts from May 21-June 6 (26.2IP), Myers has given up 4ER each of his last two starts. Last night all his ER came in one inning. In his last start (June 11 @NYY), three of his four ER came in the first inning.
*Pence also had two hits, giving him five hits against the Royals, with two doubles and 2RBI.
Pitch Count Hero: Berkman (2x4) and Feliz (0x4) - 19 pitches in four PAs.
Pitch Count Punk: Carlos Lee (0x4) - 10 pitches in four PAs.
Man of the Match: Hunter Pence.
Goat of the Game: Pedro Feliz - 0x4 and his 9th error of the season.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
