Astros’ rally comes up short vs Brewers 6-5

The Astros looked like a fish ready to be cooked for dinner but a nice 7th inning rally brought them back to life only to fall to the Brew Crew 6-5. The Astros didn’t do much against Zack Greinke minus a Jed Lowrie bomb. Lucas Harrell had his moments but Ryan Braun did him in a couple of times including a homerun. It was a nice battle from the ‘Stros but falling 4 runs down is a big mountain to climb against one of the better setup/closer combos in the game. Jason Castro had the play of the game for the Stros, surviving a major collision at the plate from Mat Gamel. The Astros continue to battle and stay close, home or road, but a lot of these games continue to go in the loss column.

The Astros offense was limited to a couple of innings and 3 RBIs by Brian Bogusevic but Greinke had his way for the most part while in the game. Carlos Lee had three solid hits but failed to drive in a runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs, which proved to be the difference in the game. Jason Castro continued to show offensive improvement along with good defense, he should get better as the season goes on and he gets his legs under him. Chris Johnson did drive in a run but also looked lost the other times up. I would really consider moving Lowrie to 3rd and insert Marwin Gonzalez back at SS. Makes the club better defensively and possibly offensively.

The whole night it felt like Lucas Harrell was actually having a decent outing until you look up at the scoreboard. 5 runs in 5 innings can’t happen and continues his good start followed by a bad start pattern. Brandon Lyon continued to struggle but Rhiner Cruz did pretty darn well again. Overall, the pen did well but just too much Ryan Braun, a lot of clubs will feel his pain this season. The Astros will send Bud Norris to the hill vs old friend Randy Wolf tomorrow. With the lefty going, look for Chris Snyder to get time behind the plate and let’s see what Brad Mills does with red hot Jordan Schafer.