Astros Spring Notes: Wait, Ties in Baseball Happen?

While the rain was pouring in Houston yesterday, the Astros tied a Spring Training game. Yes, it was that kind of day.

Baseball games should never end in ties. Unless it is in Spring Training, where the games don’t matter anyway. At least the Astros offense showed some life yesterday.

Down 7-3 in the top of the ninth inning, a rally was made possible due to the timely efforts of some young Astros hitters.

Tyler Heineman with an RBI single to tie the game. 7-7 in the 9th.
AJ Reed, Jon Kemmer and J.D. Davis also have RBIs in Astros' 4-run 9th.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 5, 2017

A.J. Reed has continued to have a nice Spring Training as he has a 1.053 OPS in eight games thus far. He will have to continue to perform at a similar clip to have a chance to win the first base job over Yulieski Gurriel.

On the mound, the Astros were not blessed with the best results. But Mike Fiers did last 2.1 innings allowing two runs, one earned, while issuing two walks. So, that’s something. The competition for the fifth starting job with Joseph Musgrove will be fun to watch.

Of course, the biggest storyline entering yesterday’s game was Fiers facing Giancarlo Stanton. If you may recall, the last time Fiers pitched against Stanton back in September 2014 did not end well for the Miami Marlins slugger.

Mike Fiers struck out Giancarlo Stanton swinging in their first meeting since Fiers hit Stanton in the face with a pitch in Sept. 2014.
— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) March 5, 2017

The rogue pitch left Stanton with numerous facial injuries. I am sure we all remember seeing the gruesome footage following the event. Per Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle, it appears that both sides have moved on from the unintentional incident.

"“I think everyone’s beyond that,” Fiers said. “We’re passed that, and we’re just playing baseball and doing our jobs here and I try to put that in the back of my mind.”"

Beyond that storyline though, the Astros pitching staff had its moments. Good and bad.

For example, Jordan Jankowski, Jandel Gustave, Reymin Guduan, and Keegan Yuhl all had scoreless appearances. However, Tyson Perez allowed three earned runs in 0.2 innings pitched.

Next: Astros Spring Notes, Don't Forget About Joseph Musgrove

Anyway, this game ended in a tie. A Spring Training game so there is no need to cry over that. But it is nice on the superficial level not to see Houston in the loss column again. Even though it means nothing.

**Statistics courtesy of MLB.com**

While the rain was pouring in Houston yesterday, the Astros tied a Spring Training game. Yes, it was that kind of day.

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