*Keuchel: 7IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB - 17 groundball outs, one flyball out. Hinch:
He was awesome and really impressive with how he went about it with only one difficult inning they made him work. He's so fun to watch pitch when he can control contact the way he does, the ball's on the ground.
Keuchel:
It was probably the best movement I have had in a long time pre-injury.
*Bregman, on playing behind Keuchel:
It's fun to play behind him. You know you're going to get some ground balls that day, you know you've got to be on your toes, you know you've got to be at your best. He's the ace for a reason.
In his career, Keuchel is 5-3 with a 2.39 ERA/1.14 WHIP against Oakland.
*Chris Devenski allowed four home runs in 108.1IP in 2016. After last night's home run allowed, he's up to nine in 63.2IP in 2017.
*Ken Giles replaced Devenski one pitch into an at-bat and recorded a five-out save, five days after recording a six-out save. Giles, since the All-Star Break: 13 appearances, 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 21K:3BB. 1.26 ERA/0.70 WHIP. Giles is loving it:
This is crunch time and I've got to be ready to do anything. I've got to be ready for two innings, three innings maybe. I'm going to be out there ready to go when he needs me.
*Bregman and Altuve went back-to-back in the 3rd inning. Six of the seven hits came from Altuve, Gurriel, and Reddick. It was Altuve's 50th multi-hit game, against 24 0-hit games.
*McTaggart notes that Bregman is hitting .324/.410/.619 since July 4.
*Correa took ground balls and ran the bases again while Harris and Sipp threw simulated innings to Evan Gattis. McCullers will throw a bullpen session on Sunday. Hinch, on McCullers:
If he can throw a really good live session, we don't feel like he is restricted in any way or holding back or tentative on the mound, we could possibly introduce a rehab assignment.
*The Astros should get McCann back late next week. He probably won't need a rehab assignment.
*SI's Jay Jaffe writes that the Astros need to make a trade for pitching help, but there aren't many options remaining.
*Jeff Luhnow doesn't mind if you @ him on the God-forsaken website Twitter dot com. But you might catch that block:
My rule is if you curse or say something very insulting or personal, you're blocked. I have 20-25 people I've blocked. Some people I've blocked and they asked me to unblock them and apologized for their comments, so I've unblocked a few too.
*The Astros won't renew the contracts of eight scouts this off-season. Here's hoping they hire me to make jokes and provide levity in trade talks.
*Rogelio Armenteros threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 9K:2BB for Fresno last night. Armenteros' last four starts: 22.2IP, 17H/3ER, 37K:8BB. Let's let this guy make some September starts.
*Franklin Perez - the youngest pitcher in the Texas League (Forrest Whitley is second-youngest) - threw 6IP, 2H/2ER, 4K:2BB in last night's Corpus win. In his last four starts he's thrown 21IP, 14H/4ER, 18K:5BB. He's 19. The win was Rodney Linares' 231st win at Corpus, tying a franchise record.
*This is good to see:
Very excited to be back doing what I love to do (😎🙈) pic.twitter.com/vlq9rW1TW5— Colin Moran (@morancolin92) August 18, 2017
