Lucas Harrell (3-3, 4.09) vs Clayton Kershaw (4-1, 1.90)
Make it 4 in a row! The Astros beat the Dodgers 3-1 tonight to take the opener of their weekend series, and win their 4th game in a row. The Astros sneak within a game of .500 and sit at 22-23 after 45 games. The Dodgers are now 30-15.
*Lucas Harrell was outstanding despite not even striking out a batter all evening. As a guy who pitches to contact, he is going to have nights where everything goes right and nights where everything goes wrong. Tonight was one of the former. His line: 7.1 IP / 5 H / 1 ER / 3 BB / 0 K. Wright, Lopez, Abad and Rodriguez then combined to pitch 0.2 IP (Mills micromanaging at its best), while Myers tossed a scoreless 9th with 2 K's for his 12th save on the year.
Observations:
*Brett Myers ERA is now a very nice 1.59, and he has (as mentioned) 12 saves on the year. Him and Wandy are doing their best to make themselves trade bait.
*JD Martinez was the difference maker offensively tonight, with a 2 run homerun in the 3rd. From the 3 hole he went 2 for 4 with a run and 2 RBI.
*With Schafer still out, Maxwell was in CF and Altuve led off. Altuve went 2 for 5 with a pair of doubles and scored the first run of the game in the first inning. Maxwell went 0 for 2 but did walk twice.
*The Astros had 6 walks, 7 hits and 8 strikeouts. Not a bad job at all of getting on base tonight - unfortunately the Astros were still terrible with RISP, with a 1 for 13 night in that category.
*A very big win for the Astros - beating a great team in their home stadium. Coming into this game, the Astros were a terrible 5-13 on the road while the Dodgers were 19-4 at home. With those numbers, and facing Kershaw, you would expect this game to be a cakewalk for the Dodgers. But paced by great pitching, the 'Stros came away with the huge win.
Turning Point:
*The JD Martinez homerun which gave the Astros the lead.
Man of the Match:
*Lucas Harrell. Very nice evening facing the ace of the Dodgers - and one of the best pitchers in the entire National League.
Goat of the Game:
None. Everyone contributed in one way or another tonight. A great team win.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
