Sunday Morning Hot Links

Well that was one of the weirdest games ever. A completely ineffective Lance McCullers start meant that the A's built up a 5-0 lead, and the Astros didn't have a hit until the 7th inning but had two runs on the board. Loads of walks, errors, and finally some hits strung together combined with another Springer homer, allowed Ken Giles to do April Ken Giles things and still hold on to a 10-6 win. No team in baseball history has ever been no-hit through five innings and gone on to score 10 runs.

*8-4 ties the 2006 Astros for the best record to open the season in franchise history.

*Note that the Astros had gone eight years in between games of overcoming a five-run deficit. Now they've done it twice in their last three games. Springer:
There's no panic in this team. We know that all we've got to do is string together three or four at-bats in an inning and we could be right back in the game. 

McCann:
It just speaks to what we've got going on here. We felt it in spring and got off to a little bit of a slow start swinging the bats but we're starting to find our groove.

*Hinch:
They let us hang in the game a little bit, and once we got rolling, we got a few guys on base and we took advantage of some base running stuff we did well and pecked away until we got back in it. We had a couple of big hits. We just kept playing and playing, which is a characteristic about this team that I love. 

*The Astros drew eight walks for the second time this season, and have at least one walk in all twelve games. The 2016 Astros drew 8+ BB four times in all of last season.

*Of course the biggest story of the game turned out to be how A's pitcher Frankie Montas tried to kill the Astros season and hit Carlos Correa on the hand. X-rays were mercifully negative and Correa is listed as day-to-day. Doubtful he plays today. Correa:
Good news, obviously. I thought it was going to be a lot worse...Obviously, I will be doing my best to be able to go back out there as soon as I can.

*For the third straight appearance, Giles didn't get a clean outing. Note that Giles was used in the 8th inning while Gregerson pitched the 9th. Hinch:
I think the distinctions are based on how I use them, Ken's still going to finish most of the games. But that's what I mean by 'most of the games.'

*Hinch ran out of position players, and forfeited the DH position.

*Meanwhile in Oakland, Bob Melvin:
It's tough to be positive about a game like that. We played so well and did everything right for five innings and (then) couldn't play any worse and did everything wrong. 

On The Farm

Colin Moran hit a 9th inning homer to tie it up with Salt Lake, but the Bees walked it off in the bottom of the 10th, giving Fresno a 6-5 loss. Grizzlies pitchers walked 12 batters, Brian Holmes gave up 5H/3ER, 2K:4BB in the start. Ashur Tolliver allowed 2H/2ER, 2K:2BB in 2IP. Jordan Jankowski took the loss with 1H/1ER, 0K:3BB without recording an out in the 10th. Tyler White was 2x5, Teoscar Hernandez was 1x3 with a walk and a two-run homer. Preston Tucker drove in two runs with a 1x3, 2B day.

Corpus held Arkansas to three hits in a 5-0 win. Rogelio Armenteros threw 5IP, 2H/0ER, 8K:1BB and Joshua James threw the final 4IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB. Ramon Laureano (1x3, 3RBI) and J.D. Davis (2x3, BB, 2RBI) each hit their first homers of the season. Antonio Nunez was 2x3 with a double.

Kyle Tucker had himself a day (note: I hate that phrase) as Buies Creek took an early 12-0 lead and rode it out for a 13-6 win over Winston-Salem. Tucker was 4x5 with two doubles and a three-run homer, driving in seven runs on his own. Arturo Michelena was 3x5 with a double, while Jason Martin, Ryne Birk and Anthony Hermelyn had two hits each. Yoanis Quiala threw 6IP, 4H/0ER, 5K:3BB to preserve his 0.00 ERA through his second start. Devon Carr threw 1IP, 4H/5R (4ER), 1K:2BB, Sebastian Kessay allowed 1H/1ER, 1K:1BB in 1IP and Andrew Thome closed out the 9th.

Quad Cities scored three in the bottom of the 9th, but were down 8-1 when it happened, so whatever. 8-4 loss to Kane County. Edgardo Sandoval allowed 6H/5ER, 4K:1BB in 4IP; Carlos Sierra gave up 3H/1ER, 2K:2BB in 3.1IP and Reggie Johnson allowed 2H/2ER, 2K:1BB. Rodrigo Ayarza was 2x3 with two solo shots. Daz Cameron and Alexander De Goti drove in the other two runs.