Brandon Beachy (0-0, 0.00) v.s. J.A. Happ (0-0, 0.00)
Don't look now, but the Astros are 3-1! Houston beat Atlanta tonight by an 8-3 score, moving the Braves to 0-4 to start the season. While the game looked bad at the start, as Atlanta was knocking J.A. Happ around and took an early 3-0 lead, the Astros fought back and took the lead - and never looked back.
*J.A. Happ got the Win tonight with his line of 6.0 IP / 6 H / 3 ER / 1 BB / 5 K. Happ struggled for the first 3 innings and got hit around pretty good, but really turned it around after that and put in a pretty nice performance.
*Justin Maxwell made his Astros debut in a pinch hitting role in the bottom of the 8th. He was behind in the count at 1-2 when he reached out and knocked one out of the park in left for a 2 run homer.
*Jeff Luhnow looks like an absolute genius tonight. His waiver claim (Maxwell) hits a 2 run bomb in his first at bat with the Astros, and the pitcher that he cut at the end of Spring Training - Livan Hernandez - came in for the Braves and got knocked around. Hernandez gave up 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 2 innings of work.
*JD Martinez got the night off and Travis Buck took his place in left. I was slightly surprised to see Buck take Martinez' #3 spot in the batting order as well, but it's not a bad choice by any means - everyone gets to keep their spot in the lineup and Buck gets a chance to drive in some runs.
*Which is just what he did with a 2 run double in the 3rd.
*JD did come into the game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 6th and promptly delivered an RBI single.
*Marwin Gonzalez had his best offensive performance as an Astro. He just missed a homerun when he hit the base of the wall in right in the 4th inning. It did turn into a double and he scored right away on an RBI single by J.A. Happ - out there helping out his own cause. Gonzalez ended up 3 for 4 with 3 runs on the night.
*The Astros ended up with a total of 11 hits from 9 different batters tonight. Castro and Bogusevic were the only Astros who didn't get a basehit.
*Speaking of Castro, FSN dubbed him 'Castro the Astro' tonight - which is surprisingly simple, and I wish I had thought of it. Because I love it.
Man of the Match:
Marwin Gonzalez has been great with the glove so far, but he finally got his bat going tonight with an impressive 3 for 4 night, including scoring 3 runs. He almost had his first homerun in the 4th as well.
Goat of the Game:
Castro the Astro is a candidate here, as he still doesn't have a hit on the season, but he did end up scoring a run tonight after he reached on a fielders choice. So i'll go with Bogusevic. For as good as the Astros have been offensively so far this year, I'm not sure how much longer we can roll with Bogey in the #5 spot. He went 0-4 tonight and is now batting only .133 for the season.
