The Astros needed a pinch-hit jack from Yordan as they scored late again to beat the Royals, again. Houston is 97-53. The Astros have won two in a row, and are 7-3 in their last ten, and are 19-8 since the previous time they dropped three of four to the A's. There are 12 regular season games left. Houston needs to go 7-5 in order to set a franchise record for wins.
*The Yankees won, the Dodgers lost, so...
New York (98-52): -
Houston (97-53): -1
Los Angeles (96-54): -2
*Zack Greinke threw 6IP, 6H/1ER, 7K:0BB. After walking seven batters in his first 19IP as an Astro, Greinke has now walked one batter in his last 30.1IP. Greinke mixed in some pitches in the high-50s/low-60s. Hinch:
I've never seen one that slow and I don't think he's thrown that many that slow. He threw a couple of good ones. It was a game plan that he was going to do against some of these guys who were a little jumpy at the plate. It was very, very effective.
Greinke's first six starts with Houston: 37.1IP, 41H/16ER, 27K:8BB, 5HR. 3.86 ERA / 1.31 WHIP.
Greinke's last two starts with Houston: 12IP, 8H/1ER, 11K:0BB, 0HR. 0.75 ERA / 0.67 WHIP.
Greinke:
I had planned on using the curve, and it was pretty good at the start, so I used it a little more than I planned on. It's one of my better pitches, so I thought it would be a good option. I just threw what was called for the most part. I thought everything was good today, except for a couple of mistakes.
Greinke has now recorded a Win over all 30 MLB teams, joining Max Scherzer as the only active pitchers with the achievement. He also has recorded a Win in 29 ballparks. The only active ballparks in which he has not won are: Fenway, Camden Yards, Tropicana Field, and Yankee Stadium.
*Kyle Tucker was 4x4 with a walk and an RBI. It's obviously a career-high in hits, his 3rd multi-hit game of the season (month), 4th of his career. Tucker raised his OPS from .757 to .918 in one game. Hinch:
Watching [Tucker] behind the scenes, I think he's much more prepared for the opportunity this time. We told him that he'd get more opportunities if he produced more. He's doing his part and we're doing our part.
Which seems...never mind.
Chandler Rome notes that Tucker is the youngest Astro to reach base five times in a game since Terry Puhl in 1978.
*Robinson Chirinos drew three walks for the third time in his career and the first time since he drew four walks against Seattle on June 6. That's five walks in Chirinos' last two games (he got the first game of the Royals series off because Cole was pitching). He had drawn five walks since July 22 (107 PAs).
*Alex Bregman hit his 36th home run of the season and also drew three walks.
*Yordan Alvarez hit his 25th home run in his 76th game. Game of other significant players' 25th home career home run:
Aaron Judge: 85
Albert Pujols: 101
Mike Trout: 128
Miguel Cabrera: 136
Alex Rodriguez: 141
Barry Bonds: 175
Jeff Bagwell: 254
Bregman, Springer, Altuve, Gurriel, Yordan. The Astros have never had five 25+ HR hitters in a season before 2019.
*SI's Tom Verducci says Yordan is the 4th-best rookie of 2019...
*The current plan for Carlos Correa is to rejoin the team when the Astros open a two-game series against Arlington on Tuesday and go finish up the rehab with Houston. Hinch:
It will be borderline like a Spring Training schedule with in-season responsibilities. He may play six innings and come out, even if it's not a blowout.
Ryan Pressly and Brad Peacock are also apparently feeling great, and getting ready to go.
*Fayetteville got shutout for 20 consecutive innings, losing 2-0 to Wilmington and ending their inaugural season at Segra Stadium.
*Wade Miley takes the mound to try to complete the sweep of the Royals before the Astros get two days off this week. The last 15 batters Miley has faced:
Single: 10
Double: 2
Walk: 2
Home Run: 1
Out: 1
*The Reds allowed one baserunner all night...and lost.
*Outside: The not-so-new rules of healthy eating.
*Vice: Amazon's "Undone" is everything streaming tv should be.
*A Musical Selection:
The Hot Links Playlist on Spotify is now at 190 songs and twelve hours long.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
