The Astros' top of the lineup showed up while the bottom of the lineup took the night off (a reverse from Friday night), and the Astros beat the Angels 11-3. Houston is 68-50. Obviously the Rangers won, so Houston remains 2.5 back.
*Houston is 8-3 at Minute Maid Park since the All-Star Break.
*The Astros got 13 hits last night, giving them 10+ hits in five straight games - the longest streak this season, and the longest since a five-game streak from June 6-11, 2021. As a franchise, the Astros have only enjoyed 10+ hits in at least six straight games 16 times, the last being April 19-24, 2019. The longest streak of 10+ hits in franchise history is eight games, most recently set June 10-18, 2018.
*Houston is 6-5 in games after scoring 10+ runs.
*The Astros were 7x10 with runners in scoring position last night. That's, like, a lot, and stuff.
*Jose Altuve was 3x4 with a walk and an RBI. He's at 1993 hits, which [counts fingers] leaves him seven short of 2,000. Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Altuve has a .293 batting average (383 hits in 1309 ABs). At that clip, he would get 1007 hits in his 3445th AB, around seven seasons from now, when Altuve would be in his Age 40 season. It's doable, but it'll require being healthy.
*Kyle Tucker was 3x4 with a walk, homer, and 4RBI. It's his first 3-hit game since July 21 and his 10th of the season. The walk was his 58th of 2023, one shy of his career high of 59, set in 2022.
We put a lot of good at-bats and we were able to capitalize on a lot of our opportunities and put up some runs the last couple of days. Even in Baltimore, when we were down, we were able to come back and put together good at-bats and just kind of grind through it. So I think that's just the kind of team that we have and offense that we have, we just kind of grind through and always have an opportunity to win.
Altuve, on Tucker:
I know Shohei is having a crazy season, an MVP type of season. But Tucker is having a great, great year. He should be in there with the MVP list. So, I think that says it all. He's that kind of player.
*Alex Bregman was 2x4 with 2BB. He has multiple hits in three of his past five games.
*J.P. France: 7IP, 4H/2ER, 5K:1BB. He has gotten 21 outs in each of his last four starts.
*Baseball-Reference not updating by 9:45am has made this needlessly difficult.
*Michael Brantley...might?...be coming back...at some point?
*Jose Abreu is on the IL with inflammation in his lower back. Abreu:
I felt it at the beginning of the season, but it was something I just thought was normal. It went away. Right before the All-Star Break, felt it again, but the same thing - it went away. But the last time I felt it, it just kept getting worse and worse.
Phil Maton joined him on the IL. Parker Mushinski and David Hensley joined the Big League club.
*Max Scherzer remains A Bitch as he (and apparently some other) Mets did not care for Justin Verlander's "diva" attitude.
*Sugar Land's Pedro Leon hit three homers last night.
*Bill Brown and Bill Doran were inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame last night.
*Absolute disaster of a week coming up for Leeds United, as more rats jump off a sinking ship.
The Starting XI and their current status in Leeds' final game of the 2022-23 season, a must-win game that saw them down 1-0 within 2':
Robles: Gone
Ayling: Still here
Forshaw: Gone
Koch: Gone
Cooper: Still here
Harrison: About to move to Everton
Rodrigo: Gone
Struijk: Still here
Kristensen: Gone
McKinnie: Gone
Wober: Gone
Twats. All of them.
*A Musical Selection: