Hey, Bill Hall. Way to kill some momentum. Astros lose 5-4.
*With the loss, the Astros drop to 18-31, 11.5 games back of the Cardinals, setting a season high for GBs. They were 11.5 GB after 47 games in 2010.
*Bill Hall's booted a Matt Kemp grounder, allowing the bases to get all loaded up, which accounted for four unearned runs, thanks to Jerry Sands' 3rd inning grand slam.
*Happ has now given up two grand slams in his career - the first coming on October 2, 2010, against Aramis Ramirez. Interestingly enough, the only times in which Happ has given up a homer with a runner on 3rd were the two grand slams.
*Happ's final line: 5IP, 3H/5R (1ER), 4K:2BB, 2HR. He has given up homers in his last three starts, and has given up 2HR in three starts this season. This start snaps a four start streak in which Happ had gotten at least 18 outs.
*Both of the homers Happ allowed came after Happ fell behind to a 2-0 count. After throwing a first-pitch strike to five straight batters in the 2nd/3rd inning, Happ threw a first-pitch ball to five batters, four of whom scored on Sands' grand slam.
*A bullpen of Del Rosario, Escalona, and Lopez combined for 4IP, 3H/0ER, 7K:1BB, extending the bullpen's scoreless streak to 9.1IP. In the last four games, the bullpen has thrown 10.1IP, 8H/1ER, 12K:3BB.
*The Astros did mount a comeback, getting three runs back in the bottom of the 3rd. Quintero flied out and Happ struck out to start the inning, and then the next four batters reached base: Bourn walked, Barmes singles, Pence doubled (Bourn scored), Lee singled (Barmes and Pence scored). Wallace struck out to end the inning. To focus on the most negative thing, Wallace's OPS with two outs is .622. That's 125 points lower than his OPS with one out (.747), and 489 points lower than his OPS with nobody out (1.111).
*The 6-9 hitters (including Happ and PHs Sanchez, Downs, and Bogusevic) went 0x13 with 6Ks, though Johnson got a sac fly scoring the Astros' 4th run.
*Hunter Pence extending his two-hit game streak to six games, and has raised his OPS 43 points in those six games (.778 to .821).
*In addition to Hall's critical error, he went 0x4 with 3Ks. It's his 7th 3K game of the year, giving him 52Ks in 150 PAs (34.7%) on the year. The 52Ks are exactly half of his 2010 total, which he got in 382 PAs (27.2%), and still a higher rate than his career-high 32.9% in 2009. Hall is 5K behind Ryan Howard for the NL lead in strikeouts, but is also 41ABs behind him.
*Man of the Match: Hunter Pence
*Goat of the Game: Bill Hall, of course.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
