Houston Astros: Rare Dallas Keuchel Error Could Prove Costly.

The Houston Astros rolled into Los Angeles on a high after the offensive explosion in the final game in Oakland. The team had an off day on Thursday, to give the players some much-needed rest. The Astros ace Dallas Keuchel took the mound Friday night looking to get closer to 20 wins for the season. Keuchel has 17 wins with maybe three to four starts remaining, depending on if the Astros need to pitch him in a must-win situation to get into the playoffs.

There was a lot riding on Keuchel’s start tonight, especially with the Rangers winning an earlier game versus the A’s. He has not made an error prior to this game and seems on track to win the Golden Glove for the second straight season. In the second inning, Keuchel was set to face David Freese, Erick Aybar, and Shane Victorino. He got Freese to strike out, then allowed a double to Aybar followed by a strikeout of Victorino. Former Astros catching prospect Carlos Perez walked to bring up the ever dangerous Taylor Featherston.

Keuchel’s normally has an incredible ability to get a crucial ground balls to get out of trouble, so with two runners on base. Keuchel threw the pitch to Featherston, and like he has done all season, he got a comebacker to the mound that would end up bouncing high causing Keuchel to leap. When he leaped, he was so excited to get the ground ball that he was trying to throw the ball before he got it and batted the ball away. This miscue led to the Angels scoring three unearned runs off of Keuchel in the second inning.

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Had Keuchel caught the ball, the Angels would not have scored, and the Astros could have had a 2-1 lead. This loss was a big one for the Astros and their playoff hopes, but we can’t place all the blame on Keuchel, he did pitch a quality game. The offense was limited to two runs on the Carlos Gomez homer.

Could this game have been a momentum buster? Only time will tell whether this loss by Keuchel has a big impact on the playoff chance, but the Astros still are in the drivers seat for now. The Astros are still struggling on the road, which could be disastrous should they made the playoffs without home-field advantage. We have two more games this weekend against to make the odds more in their favor.