J.R. Towles gets three of the unlikeliest hits you'll see this season (unless your name is Hall, Bill) and the Astros win 2-1.
*With the win, the Astros now have a record over .500 against two teams: The Dodgers and Blue Jays.
*In ten rubber matches, the Astros are now 3-7 (two straight rubber match wins).
*When scoring 0-2 runs, the Astros are now 3-12.
*Here's an interesting one: When the game is tied at the beginning of the 9th, the Astros are now 5-0.
*Aneury Rodriguez threw another nice game - his second in a row - going 6IP, 4H/01ER, 5K:1BB, with the lone run coming on Matt Kemp's 12th homer of the season. It's the first time he's lasted 18 outs this season.
*The Aneurysm's 96 pitches (59 strikes) are both career highs. In his last 11.1IP (two starts), he's has allowed 12H/3ER, 8K:2BB. His ERA is under 5.00 - 4.98, to be exact - for the first time in his ML career.
*Wilton Lopez, Jeff Fulchino, and Mark Melancon combined for 3IP, 2H/0ER, 3K:2BB.
*With the three scoreless IPs, the bullpen has now gone 12.1IP without allowing a run.
*Mark Melancon got your win, giving him four on the year, which just so happens to be your team leader.
*The Big Bat of the Day comes courtesy of J.R. Towles (who was thrown out at the plate to end the 7th inning), who clocked three hits, including a double. His 35 PAs without a hit are well documented - with Towles getting his first hit since the first PA against Cincinnati all the way back on May 4. In those 10 games between hits, Towles' OPS dropped 449 points, from 1.076 to .627. With today's game, the OPS jumped 60 points.
*Carlos Lee had two hits on the day - giving him hits in 16 of his last 19 games.
*Hunter Pence was 1x4, extending his hitting streak to seven games, but breaking that 2-hit game streak at six.
*Michael Bourn hit a homer! It was the first leadoff homer of his career, and the first leadoff homer for Houston since Kaz Matsui's HR September 23, 2008. Not only that, but that was also the first homer Bourn has hit in his career on the first pitch of an AB. He's only 52 homers behind Craig Biggio for game-beginning HRs.
*Bill Hall K watch! Hall was 0x4 with 2Ks. Hall pulls within 3Ks of Ryan Howard for the NL lead, and is seven behind Adam Dunn for 7th in all of baseball. With those 2Ks, he has now broken the 35% barrier - striking out in 35.1% of his PAs.
*Brett Wallace got his 8th start against a lefty starter. In three PAs against Ted Lilly, Wallace grounded out to 2nd twice, and the pitcher once. He's 41x123 against righty starters, and 7x32 against lefty starters.
*Chris Johnson actually got intentionally walked for the first time this season. He had gone 27 PAs without a walk, since May 18. It was his first IBB since August 16, 2010 against the Mets.
*Not that there's going to be any comparison in this space, but it should be pointed out that Hunter Pence saw five pitches. In 4 PAs. The Dodgers had 7 ABs of 6+ pitches this game.
*Man of the Match: Come on. J.R. Towles!
*Goat of the Game: No Goats on walkoffs.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
