Sunday Morning Hot Links

*The Rays pulled an Astros yesterday evening, scoring four runs in the 6th inning for a 6-3 win over the Astros. Will Harris allowed two of the runners he inherited from Charlie Morton - who fell apart in the 6th - to score. Hinch:
They did a pretty good job of putting five or six at-bats in a row where some positive things turned out on their end. Credit to them for putting a couple of things together. 

*Righties are hitting Morton with more, alarming, regularity in 2017 than they have at any point in his career. Morton:
For some reason righties aren't really having too much trouble with me this year, and I think (I need to) kind of reassess the same plan against righties a little bit. Because I've never really struggled with righties, but I am.

Through 2112 plate appearances, righties have hit Morton to a .252/.316/.355 slash line (far below his .852 OPS-allowed to lefties). Righties in 2017 (56 PAs) have hit Morton at a .365/.400/.577 line. Eight of the 19 hits righties have collected have gone for extra bases.

*Altuve and Gattis hit solo homers, and then scored what was then the go-ahead run with the best baserunning I've ever seen from him. He went 2nd to home in 5.5 seconds.

*George Springer's consecutive games streak is in jeopardy as he did something to his hamstring running down the line in the 5th inning.

*Mike Hauschild passed through waivers and has been returned to Houston, and will apparently report to Fresno.

*The Astros are one of five favorites to land Cuban prospect Luis Robert.

PreStros Report - Games of April 22

Fresno (8-9) carried a 5-4 lead into the top of the 7th, but Salt Lake scored two runs and beat Fresno 6-5. Frankie Tuesday had command issues, throwing just 3IP, 8H/4ER, 2K:3BB. Kevin Comer threw three scoreless innings in relief. Ryan Thompson gave up the tying and go-ahead runs, and Dayan Diaz lowered his ERA to 1.17 with 2IP, 2H/0ER, 3K:1BB. Teoscar Hernandez was 2x4 with a triple, RBI and an outfield assist at home plate. Preston Tucker was 2x4 with 2RBI, Derek Fisher hit a two-run homer, his 3rd of the season.

Corpus (10-5) gave up four in the bottom of the 1st at Frisco and couldn't claw back in a 5-3 loss. Brock Dykxhoorn allowed 3H/4ER, 2K:3BB in 4IP and Cy Sneed had a far more successful outing, throwing 4IP, 2H/1ER, 1K:2BB. Jack Mayfield was 2x4, Mott Hyde hit a solo homer and Trent Woodward added an RBI. The top five in the lineup went a combined 1x18 with 1K:2BB.

Buies Creek (12-5) gave up a 4-spot in the bottom of the 5th at Carolina on their way to a 6-2 loss. Akeem Bostick got touched up for the first time this season, allowing 5H/4ER, 3K:2BB, with a wild pitch. Ralph Garza struck out the side in the 8th. Myles Straw and Anibal Sierra both went 2x4 with an RBI. Kyle Tucker was 1x4 with an outfield assist. BCA was 2x10 w/RISP.

Quad Cities (9-7) took an early 1-0 lead but Clinton scored the final six runs of the game for a 6-1 loss. Enoli Paredes allowed 6H/2ER, 4K:0BB in 4.2IP; Abdiel Saldana had a rough one - 7H/4ER, 3K:2BB in 3IP. Reggie Johnson retired all four batters he faced. Marcos Almonte was 2x4 with a double. Ronnie Dawson had a double; Alex De Goti was 0x2 with two walks.