Dallas Keuchel (3-2, 4.70) vs Hisashi Iwakuma (6-1, 1.94)
When you pit a badly slumping offense against the pitcher with the second best ERA in the league, that's not a recipe for success. When the slumping team tosses in three errors to give away a pair of runs, you know their fate is pretty much sealed. An early lead, a late rally, and a sterling effort by Dallas Keuchel were not enough to beat the odds, and Houston falls to Seattle tonight by a 3-2 margin. The loss is #5 in a row for the Astros, dropping them to 22-43 on the year.
On the Mound:
*Dallas Keuchel delivered his third consecutive quality start, and he was actually a match for Hisashi Iwakuma most of the night, until his defense betrayed him. A Matt Dominguez throwing error made a loser out of Keuchel with this line: 6 IP / 7 H / 2 R / 1 ER / 0 BB / 6 K.
*Wade LeBlanc made his Astros debut pitching the 7th, and the defense didn't do him any favors either, with what was initially ruled two errors on one play (by Altuve and Dominguez). The Dominguez error was later reversed, however, and the run allowed changed from unearned to earned.
*Jose Veras hasn't had any leads to save/blow lately, so he got the 8th anyway, allowing a double and getting 2 K in his inning of work.
At the Plate:
*Houston managed seven hits tonight, but three of those came in the last two innings against the Mariners bullpen.
*Jose Altuve bumped his hitting streak to 11 games, going 2 for 3 with a double, a K, and a sac fly RBI.
*Marwin Gonzalez went 1 for 3 and scored on Altuve's sac fly.
*Carlos Pena doubled to go 1 for 4 with a K.
*J.D. Martinez had fanned in all 3 AB before the 9th, but singled and scored in that frame to finish 1 for 4.
*Carlos Corporan got the other RBI on a pinch-hit single in the 9th.
*Jason Castro had Houston's seventh hit, going 1 for 4.
Turning Point:
Houston led 1-0 after the 3rd, though Seattle tied it up on a Raul Ibanez solo shot in the 4th. In the 5th, Carlos Triunfel led off with a single, then moved to second on a ground out. Kyle Seager grounded to the pitcher, which got Triunfel caught in a rundown, but Seager himself ended up on 2nd before it was done. Kendrys Morales followed with an infield single to Matt Dominguez at third, but Dominguez bounced the throw to first, which led Seager score with the go-ahead run.
Man of the Match:
Dallas Keuchel. Lowers his ERA to 4.37 and drops to .500 in the process.
Goat of the Game:
Matt Dominguez. 0 for 4 with 3 LOBsters (including the game-ending out), one run-costing error, and another almost error that the official scorer later reversed. But still not a good night for Matty D.
