The Astros, minus George Springer and Jose Altuve, beat the White Sox' bullpen last night 3-0. Houston is 32-16 with an 8.5-game lead on 2nd place Arlington. They have won 14 of their last 16 games and are 14-4 in May.
*It was Houston's 5th shutout of the year. Houston has hit a home run in 17 straight games, two shy of the franchise record.
*Brad Peacock threw 5IP, 2H/0ER, 9K:0BB and he now has a 3.59 ERA. A bullpen of Devenski, Harris, Pressly, and Osuna held the White Sox to 2H/0ER, 4K:0BB.
Since getting shelled for 7ER at Minnesota, Peacock's last three starts: 17IP, 8H/1ER, 24K:5BB, 0.53 ERA / 0.76 WHIP.
*Houston pitchers struck out 13 batters and walked 0. There have only been 24 instances of 10+ K/0BB in MLB this season, and last night was the 5th time this season that a team has thrown a 10+K/0BB shutout. It has happened to the Marlins twice, the Orioles twice, and now the White Sox.
*Ryan Pressly ran his consecutive outing scoreless streak to 40. He needed 10 pitches to get through the 8th. It's the 10th time in 19 appearances that he has needed 13 pitches or less to record three outs.
*Since striking out twice in back-to-back games on May 14-15, Alex Bregman (1x3, BB) has struck out once in his last 19 PAs.
*Tyler White hit his first home run since September 11, 2018. He credits watching Kris Bryant and his axe-handle bat. White:
I'm going to use it as long as I do well. I don't know if it helped or not, but Kris Bryant had been talking about it a lot and I was just like, 'Well, I'm going to try it out.' I've never used it. I know George is a guy that uses it always and a couple of other guys in here...It worked today.
*Jake Marisnick hit his 5th home run of the season. In 89 PAs in 2019, Marisnick has 12 extra-base hits. In 235 PAs in 2018, Marisnick had 19 extra-base hits.
*Jose Altuve took BP prior to last night's game and the hope is that he can start his rehab assignment later this week. Other updates: Springer could be back (pun intended) this week, and Aledmys Diaz could return to the lineup tonight.
*George Springer was not in the lineup last night, but had an MRI and got "good news," whatever that means. It probably means he still has a back.
*The Astros jumped into the top spot in Alyson Footer's Power Rankings for MLB.com.
*SI's Michael Beller: It's the
*Kyle Tucker, April 2019: 22 games, .173/.221/.407, 21K:5BB.
Kyle Tucker, May 2019: 17 games, .355/.459/.823, 18K:11BB
*The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be at Minute Maid on Wednesday.
*Former Astros Great Luke Gregerson was unconditionally released by the Cardinals yesterday. After a 3-year stint with the Astros in which he threw 179.2IP, 148H/78ER, 196K:48BB (3.66 ERA / 1.09 WHIP), Gregerson has spent the last 1+ seasons with St. Louis, throwing 18.1IP, 25H/15ER, 14K:7BB (7.36 ERA / 1.75 WHIP). Gregerson threw 5.1IP in the 2017 postseason, allowing 2H/0ER, 5K:2BB. And then went and messed up the Cardinals. Legend.
*Yoenis Cespedes is likely out for the season after suffering a "a violent fall off a non-horse" and receiving several fractures in his ankle. I too have taken a fall off a non-horse (a skateboard) and we shall move right along.
*The Dodgers almost moved to the San Fernando Valley, and then the Angels blocked it.
*The Hardball Times' Mark Armour: A look back at the celebration of the "modern game's" 100th anniversary.
*Watching "Inglourious Basterds" in the Trump Era.
*I'm part of the way through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and I'm really enjoying it. It's $1.99 for Kindle right now.
*Mental Floss: Eight tips for beating a claw machine
*The New Yorker: The Undercover Fascist.
*A Musical Selection:
