The Astros Lose to the Mariners in the same, frustrating, way.
The Astros fell to the Mariners 6-9 on Friday, and went out the same way they have been all season.
Pitching kills.
In the first inning they went 1-2-3 outs, and got ready for new addition Tastuya Imai to take the mound. Imai would have 4 walks, have three separate bases loaded combinations, a hit, a wild pitch which scored a run, hitting a batter with bases loaded, multiple full count walks, and 0-2 score before recording his first out. Then a single which ran another man home, almost hit a second batter, another wild pitch, and another full count walk. The newest Astro was pulled after 38 pitches and only 1 out.
Following that, Josh Okert would steady the ship and send the game to the second inning. Isaac Paredes would start with a hit, then a Christian Walker walk, and then a Carlos Correa hit would set up a Christian Vazquez double, which sent all 3 base runners home.
This is what’s so frustrating about the Astros, perfectly encapsulated in a neat 6 outs. The Astros pitching staff has so much potential, but in an attempt to get strikes, put meatballs down the middle and balls way out of the zone. Meanwhile, the offense puts up a big time showing and manages to tie the ball game.
The walk issue would continue to nag the Astros for the rest of the night, such as three walks before the second out in the fifth.
The flood gates would crack in the fifth when a 2 run dinger set the score to 5-3, it would break in the seventh, when reliever JP France walked two and allowed 2 single, a double, and 4 runs before the first out. The offense would then try and respond to the 6 run deficit in the 8th when Yordan Alvarez would have a 3 run home run, but that would do it for the rest of the game, and 9th inning groundout would end the game.
What has been driving Houstononians up the wall is the fact that after JP France had a horrible start to the 7th, he then got back-to-back strikeouts, including multiple Swing and Misses.
This loss just adds to the quickly mounting number of high score losses, in which the offense does their job, and the pitching just cannot hold up. Imai being pulled in the first inning of the first game of a 4 game series does not bode well for the rest of this weekend, and the rest of the season.
Astros fans are missing Closer Josh Hader and Ace Hunter Brown more than ever now as injuries seem to be another defining factor of this season. Last season the Astros were the most injured team in baseball history, and this season they seem to be singing a similar tune.
Now they look ahead towards tonight’s rematch, and hope that once-ace Lance McCullers can pull himself back into it and give the Astros Offense some cushion.