You've gotta be kidding me. The Astros lost to the St. Louis MF Cardinals 4-2. Houston is 42-37, one game back of Anaheim in 3rd place, six back of East Aledo. They're 10-14 in June and have lost eight of their last eleven games.
*Houston is 6-11 since Yordan Alvarez's oblique injury, hitting .240/.309/.407 as a team. They've scored two or fewer runs in seven of those 17 games.
*Martin Maldonado hit his second home run since May 24. It was his third extra-base hit this month, a June in which he's "hitting" .132/.220/.264.
*Framber's 4ER are the most he's allowed in a start since May 15, which is also the last time he gave up a home run before last night's dong by Cardinals 8-hole hitter Paul DeJong - the first homer hit off of Framber's curve all season.
Maldonado, on the Cardinals' approach:
I feel like they had a good approach, hitting the ball the other way, not chasing much. That was the difference. I think we made some good pitches, and they didn't hit that many ground balls like he normally gets.
*Jose Altuve was out again with a sore heel. He's been limited to playing in 26 of the Astros' first 79 games of 2023. Jose Urquidy threw a 25-pitch bullpen session. He'll have a 30-pitch session on Friday before facing live hitters at MMP on the next home stand.
*Matt Kawahara: What Jose Abreu and Alex Cintron worked on during his reset last week.
*Dusty isn't panicking about Rafael Montero.
*Chandler Rome: Spencer Arrighetti - just promoted to Sugar Land - lost his identity, now it's back.
*NY Times: How Shahzad Ismaily Became Musicians' Favorite Musician.
*Rolling Stone: The biggest, messiest band breakups in music history.
*A Musical Selection: