I'm trying to come up with a crazier two games for the Astros than what we just saw between Saturday and Sunday...and I got nothing. The Astros win a wild one 9-8 to take the series in Anaheim. Houston is 52-42, still three games back because the Rangers swept the useless-ass Guardians. The Astros are 7-5 in July.
*Houston is 7-3 against Anaheim this season. The Astros have not lost a series in Anaheim since April 4-6, 2021.
*The Astros were 3x17 w/RISP on Sunday night.
*The Astros were down 3-1 in the top of the 7th, the Angels had a 97.9% win expectancy, then scored eight of the final nine runs of the game. Dusty:
They broke our hearts last night, and we broke their hearts today.
*Houston hit five home runs in a single game for the 3rd time this season. Houston scored five runs on three two-out homers. The Astros are 8-0 when hitting 3+ homers in a game.
*Alex Bregman is BACK had a nice game, going 4x5 with a crucial home run and a walk. It was his first 4-hit game since August 18, 2022. Bregman, June 16-July 16: 25 games, .260/.351/.440, 14K:14BB. Bregman:
We have winning players. [Saturday] night, Grae throws a ball away. It happens all the time in this game. Comes back today, big double off the wall and has a huge at-bat in the 9th inning to get the tying run on base. Up and down the lineup, it's guys that know how to compete and do the little things right. When we do the little things right, we're damn hard to beat.
*Kyle Tucker was 4x5 with a walk, as well. Since Yordan went out with an oblique, Tucker: .350/.439/.581, 17K:18BB. Oh, and he saved the game with a diving catch to end it in the 9th. Tucker:
It was a hard-fought, back-and-forth game. They kept bouncing back and we kept doing the same. We had a lot of big hits and nice defensive plays. It was good to win the series.
Chandler Rome, on the "criminally underrated" Kyle Tucker.
*Chas McCormick hit two homers, bringing his season total to 11 in 59 games. His career high is 14HR, set in both 2021 and 2022, in 108 and 119 games, respectively. It was the second 2HR game of his career, the first since June 16, 2021. He went 7x11 with 3HR in the Anaheim series.
*Jake Meyers hit his first home run since June 5. It was his first extra-base hit since June 29.
*Grae Kessinger was 2x4 with a walk. He's 4x8 with a double, homer, and a walk in his last two starts.
*Jose Abreu had his first 0x6 game since May 9, 2022. In his last 31 games Abreu is hitting .294/.321/.516.
*Cristian Javier needed 91 pitches to get 15 outs, though he held the Angels to 4H/3ER, 7K:2BB. Javier has recorded 15 or fewer outs in six of his last eight starts.
*Phil Maton got his first save since June 17, 2017, which was his 4th career MLB game. Chronicle: How Maton is handling his heavy workload.
*Joel Kuhnel made his Astros debut, I guess, allowing 2H/3ER, 0K:1BB in 1.2IP. The five outs he got were more valuable than the runs he gave up, given how hard the bullpen has been working.
*The Angels are 19-12 when Shohei Ohtani homers.
*McTaggart says you can expect the Astros to be buyers at the deadline, but it's not going to be a marquee name coming to Houston.
*Dana Brown said in the pre-game show that (a) Yordan has a head cold, (b) Altuve could start a rehab assignment this week, and (c) they're hoping to get Brantley back "one way or another," which...what does that even mean?
*Check out AstrosFuture's minor-league recap from Sunday.
*Jon Singleton, Sugar Land, 2023: .296/.412/.611.
*Updated draft signings and financials are...updated.
*I did a deep dive on the early 1990s Pirates/Braves, if that's a thing that you're in to.
*A Legends Home Run Derby? Sign me up (to watch, not hit.)
*France's Women's World Cup video is freaking awesome.
*A Musical Selection: