OK, getting swept FOUR games is never a good thing.
the silver lining is that the M’s were in EVERY game except Saturday’s blowout . . . .
each of the other three were ONE-run games – a better pitch here, one less error there, a timely hit somewhere – and they could have gone 3-1 instead of 0-4 😦
ON the MOUND
Well, JA was bound to have a rough outing and, no surprise that it came against the hottest team in baseball (obviously, these are your daddy’s ‘stros!). They are for real and take EVERY advantage (and they also hit a LOT of freakin’ homers – THREE more today gave them ELEVEN for the series!). Anyhoo, despite JA’s rough few innings, he did what veteran pitchers do and hung in, giving his team a chance to win (not to mention the bullpen as much rest as possible – since they’ve still got THREE games before a day off)
SIX innings ~ SEVEN hits ~ SIX earned runs ~ THREE walks ~ SIX strikeouts
} After a perfect 7th, Carson finally gave up his FIRST earned run of the season (lead-off homer to Gatis in the 8th) and was also tagged with his first loss
AT the PLATE
Seemed all was lost (and, eventually it would be) but, it was good to see them battle back . . .
~ early on, the only scoring came in via a double (Ack) and a triple (Brad) in the 3rd (alas, Brad was stranded at 3B and, to add injury to insult -literally- AJ sprained his ankle trying to leg it out to 1B)
~ Seth, after a ONE-out triple in the 6th, found the way to score from 3B: take home on an error!
~ the grit came in the 7th when “single, single, double, double, error” netted FOUR more runs and tied the game at SIX
~ down ONE going to the 9th (after the Gatis homer) the M’s went down with a whimper: Zu strikeout, Rickie walk, Brad GDIP
IN the FIELD
* No errors today (although the ‘stros committed TWO and still managed to win)
* No DP’s turned (but, they hit into THREE 😦 )
* Nice pickoff from Charlie
* Nice OF assist from Seth (Altuve at 3B)
tweets of the game . . .
Compass Rosy 