Well Shawn Dubin did pretty much exactly what the Astros needed him to do, Chas McCormick delivered the Big Hit, Altuve homered. Astros win 5-3 to improve to 46-38, four games back, winners of five of their last seven games. The Astros have an opportunity today to end a weekend at South Euless in which three rookies started having picked up two games. At worst, the Astros will have kept the Ramgers lead at five games through a tough weekend.
*Dusty:
This club, they like to win. And they know how to win. No matter who we put out there, we expect them to do the job, even though they might not do as good a job as the people they're replacing. But just do what you're capable of doing and do what it takes to help us win.
That is the backhandiest of compliments.
*Shawn Dubin: 4IP, 3H/1ER, 3K:2BB.
That puts us in position to win the series and leave three games out. We battled today. Our bullpen did a great job. Dubin did an outstanding job. We took him far...we were thinking three, and he went four.
*Bullpen: 5IP, 4H/2ER, 8K:0BB.
*I'm not really sure why Future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy pulled Andrew Heaney after 5IP and 85 pitches, having allowed just three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts...but I'm glad he did.
*Ramgers Bullpen: 4IP, 7H/5ER, 4K:2BB.
*Jose Abreu was 3x5 with a double. Since June 1 (26 games), Abreu is hitting .298/.321/.510. He has a nine-game on-base streak.
*Jose Altuve hit his 198th career home run in the top of the 9th inning. Since coming back from resting a bruised heel on June 28, Altuve is hitting .316/.458/.842. Four of his six hits in that span have been for extra-bases, and he's been on base 11 times in 19 PAs. He needs two more home runs to be the 5th Astro with 200 career home runs, and needs 26 homers to pass Jimmy Wynn for 4th all-time in franchise history.
*Chas McCormick was 2x4 with a two-out bases-clearing triple to break the game open off of Josh Sbarro Sborz in the 8th inning. It was McCormick's first triple since August 13, 2022, and his first 3RBI game since April 9. On June 9, McCormick was hitting .227/.315/.427 after going 0x6 with 4Ks. Since then, he's hitting .333/.400/.533. He should probably play every day.
I'm just happy to contribute and help the team win. I wanted to come through there with two outs, wanted to be aggressive and ready to hit. Thankfully, we got a win today because that was huge. And if we can get a win tomorrow, that will be even bigger.
*Yainer Diaz was 0x4 with runners in scoring position.
Diaz, bases empty, 2023: 85 PAs, .354/.377/.671.
Diaz, someone on, 2023: 76 PAs, .169/.171/.254.
Diaz, with RISP, 2023: 43 PAs, .132/.140/.158.
There are 295 hitters in MLB with a minimum of 40 PAs w/RISP, and Diaz's .132 BA ranks 292nd.
*Alex Bregman had his 3rd 0x5 day of the season.
*Framber Valdez and Yordan Alvarez are your 2023 Astros All-Stars. Yordan will attend, not play. Framber might start the game.
*Yordan took BP in the cage yesterday.
*Jeremy Pena missed his third straight game after sleeping wrong. Wasn't it about this time that we all lit up Carlos Correa?
*The Nationals signed Former Astros Great Daniel Mengden to a minor-league contract while the Rockies called up Former Astros Great Fernando Abad.
*BBC: Will Texas become too hot for humans?
*Today is a hallowed day at ACHQ: It's July 3 aka Dependence Day. The day that me and my household celebrate the last day of America's dependence on England. So grab a Bounty and a Harp, add this to your Spotify playlists and spend the next nine and a half hours with me listening to the finest Britpop.
*A Musical Selection:
