Brad Peacock pitched well and the Astros avenged Collin McHugh by whooping up on the Royals 9-0. Houston is 22-15, 12-4 at home.
*Astros pitchers held the Royals to three hits. It's the 4th time this season they've held their opponent to three or fewer hits. They're 3-1 in those games. Peacock and James struck out 17 Royals. The last time the Astros struck out 17 opponents in a shutout was June 15, 1987, a 4-0 win against Cincinnati. It's the 3rd time in franchise history the Astros have done that, and only the 2nd time in a 9-inning game. (On April 15, 1968 the Astros beat the Mets 1-0 in 24 innings, and struck out 20.)
*Brad Peacock went to a full wind-up instead of pitching out of the stretch and threw 7IP, 3H/0ER, 12K:1BB. It's the best start of his career. He had never thrown 7IP with 12K prior to last night. On August 4, 2013 Peacock threw 7IP, 4H/3ER, 10K:2BB, but that was his only 21-out, 10+K game. It's only the 4th time in his career he recorded 21 outs, and the first time since July 18, 2017. The Astros would go on to win the World Series. Hinch:
The story of the day for me is the adjustment he made. His delivery out of the windup has much more rhythm, much more energy. The ball came out better, his execution was better and ultimately his results were better. That's as good as he's gotten into a game, and he held it his entire outing. It was an excellent night for him.
Peacock:
What I was doing wasn't working too well and I had to make a change. I felt really good tonight. I felt like I was able to get some rhythm out there and throw my stuff for strikes.
*Josh James struck out five of the six batters he faced.
*George Springer was 1x2 with a sac fly, a walk, and the 28th leadoff home run of his career. He's currently enjoying an 8-game hitting streak in which he has four home runs.
*Michael Brantley hit two home runs, his 8th and 9th of the season. It's his 5th career 2HR game, and the first since September 10, 2015.
In 2014, Brantley's best year as a pro, he collected 200 hits and hit 20 home runs in 676 PAs.
PA/hit, 2014: 3.38
PA/hit, 2019: 3.19
PA/HR, 2014: 33.8
PA/HR, 2019: 17.0
Brantley's 48 hits in 2019 lead the AL, and he's just four hits behind Cody Bellinger for MLB lead.
*Jose Altuve was 1x5. He has nine hits in his last 76 PAs. Yesterday I wrote about how Jose Altuve will be fine.
*Another Round Rock game, another Yordan homer. Jake Kaplan rounds up some of the questions about projecting Yordan Alvarez's bat in the Majors. I mean, I really only look at box scores but I have seen no reason why he wouldn't hit 60+ home runs in Houston.
*MLB Pipeline says the Astros are favorites to sign 16-year old SS Dauri Lorenzo in July. He's #14 on their Top 100 International Prospects list.
*Two nights ago Tyler White became the first player in Astros history to appear in a game as both DH and Pitcher.
*From SportsNet Canada: One year later, the Osuna case raises uneasy questions.
*Be warned. I will be in attendance at Minute Maid Park tonight. No, it wasn't my idea. Yes, I know the risk that I am taking for all of you. That said, I was at the King Felix Destruction Game, so maybe it'll be okay.
Speaking of which, let's talk about that June 12, 2015 game. Coming into it, for his career, King Felix: 2143.0IP, 1895H/727ER, 2032K:595BB, a 3.05 ERA / 1.16 WHIP.
SINCE that game, King Felix: 551.1IP, 551H/280ER, 466K:190BB, a 4.57 ERA / 1.34 WHIP.
The Astros killed him.
*15 Amazing Facts about Mike F. Fiers' 2nd career no-hitter. Read about the MLB scout who saw something relentless in Mike Fiers.
*Former Astros Great Delino DeShields got Delino DeMoted to Triple-A Nashville.
*SI's Stephanie Apstein: In the age of Analytics, scouts are looking for life after baseball.
*MLB teams would absolutely hire the Jeopardy guy.
*Vice: How an augmented reality game escalated into real-world spy warfare.
*Vox: Bored and lonely? Blame your phone.
*A Musical Selection:
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
