Well that's better. The Astros took a no-hitter into the 9th against the Oakland AAA's and won 6-2. The Mariners and Rangers both won, so everything is as it was. Houston is 83-64 and was able to salvage Not Getting Swept.
*AL Playoff Picture:
1. Baltimore (91-54)
2. Houston (83-64)
3. Minnesota (76-70)
4. Tampa (90-57)
5. Azle (81-64):
6. Seattle (81-65):
7. Toronto (80-66): +1.0
*AL West Odds (Change from Yesterday)
Houston: 66.3% (-0.1%)
Seattle: 20.6% (-0.1%)
Azle: 13.1% (+0.2%)
The Game
*Dusty:
We got some runs early, which we hadn't been getting against the A's because they've been dealing on us. Yeah, that was big. That was a monster shot by Alvarez. It was huge. We needed this victory...badly before we go on the road. We've got a day off [today]. It was a good night.
*The Astros went 3-3 on this little homestand against the Padres and A's, two teams who are a combined 52-95 on the road. In the three losses, Houston scored a total of four runs. In the three wins, they scored 25 runs.
*Houston is 4-5-1 in their last ten home series.
*There are 15 games remaining in the 2023 regular season - nine of them are thankfully on the road.
*Houston hit three home runs in Wednesday night's game. They had two home runs in the previous five home games.
*Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez each hit their 27th home runs of the season last night. Alex Bregman hit his 23rd home run. The three home runs accounted for five of the Astros' six hits. Yordan's home run left the bat at 117.7mph, the hardest-hit homer by any Astro since Statcast became a thing.
Kyle Tucker's homer was the 100th of his career. His 105 RBI lead the American League.
*Number of games to reach 100 Home Runs, Astros:
Yordan: 372
Berkman: 452
Tucker: 541
Bagwell: 619
Biggio: 1258
Tucker is 3rd all-time among lefties on the Astros' home run leaderboard, behind Jose Cruz (138) and Yordan Alvarez (125).
*Home Runs Accounting For Total RBIs, 2023: Here is each of the eleven-ish Astros, with their home run totals, and the percentage of their total RBIs that came off of homers:
Jake Meyers: 9HR/32RBI (19 of his 32RBI - 59.3% of his total RBIs - came from home runs)
Yainer Diaz: 21HR/56RBI (57.1%)
Jose Altuve: 16HR/42RBI (57.1%)
Yordan Alvarez: 27HR/88RBI (56.8%)
Chas McCormick: 20HR/63RBI (52.4%)
Martin Maldonado: 13HR/33RBI (51.5%)
Alex Bregman: 23HR/94RBI (45.7%)
Kyle Tucker: 27HR/105RBI (43.8%)
Jose Abreu: 14HR/77RBI (41.6%)
Jeremy Pena: 10HR/49RBI (36.7%)
Mauricio Dubon: 9HR/41RBI (20.5% - Dubon has not hit a home run with a runner on base since July 29, 2022)
*Hunter Brown: 5IP, 0H/0ER, 7K:2BB. At a 72, Game Score-wise, this is Brown's 3rd-best start of the season, behind his 79 against Tampa and his 76 against Minnesota - both in April, both on the road. It's only his fourth start of the season in which he didn't give up an extra-base hit.
Brown was lifted after 78 pitches and 15 outs, but that was kind of the point. Dusty:
That's the first real positive that he's had in a few starts. He probably only had one more inning, but we wanted to send him out on a high note.
Brown (same link):
My curveball was probably better than it's been in a month or so. I felt the line out of hand was a lot better, and then pair that with the fastball that I thought had a little bit more ride today, that was a difference-maker for me.
Brown vs Oakland, 2023: Four games, 24IP, 15H/5ER, 30K:5BB, 1.88 ERA / 0.83 WHIP.
Most strikeouts, Astros rookie pitcher:
1. Tom Griffin: 200 (1969)
2. Hunter Brown: 169 (2023)
3. Luis Garcia: 167 (2021)
4. Don Wilson: 159 (1967)
5. Collin McHugh: 157 (2014)
*Alex Bregman has struck out twice in 53 Plate Appearances in September. Last night was his first home run since August 29.
*Jeremy Pena drew two walks last night - his first walk since August 29, and his first 2BB game since August 22. It's just the 6th 2BB game of his 2023 season and the 7th of his career.
*Rafael Montero threw a perfect inning. Since bottoming out with a 7.76 ERA on June 25, Montero: 30.1IP, 19H/7ER, 36K:13BB, 2.08 ERA / 1.05 WHIP. He has struck out at least one batter faced in each appearance since July 6 - a span of 25 games.
*At 20 consecutive outings without allowing a run, Bryan Abreu is currently leading the Majors for the longest scoreless outing streak.
*Ryne Stanek threw a bullpen session for the first time since obliterating his ankle on September 4.
*Dusty is on-board with all these players-only meetings.
*Corpus' Jacob Melton, last six games: .423/.444/1.039 - he has five homers in the last six games.
*Max Scherzer is probably out for the rest of 2023.
*Former Astros Great David Stearns has been named as the Mets' President of Baseball Operations. Here are three things he can do quickly to "fix" the Mets (lol this won't happen. Fix three things, and ten other dysfunctional issues will pop up).
*Rolling Stone: Their band ended in tragedy. 20 years later, the last surviving member is ready to talk.
*What To Watch, September 14:
MLB: Rangers @ Blue Jays: 6:07pm Central
NCAAF: Navy @ Memphis: 6:30pm (ESPN)
NFL: Minnesota @ Philadelphia: 7:15pm (Amazon Prime)
*A Musical Selection:
