Houston Astros versus the Oakland Athletics Series Preview

The Houston Astros hit rock-bottom in game two against Seattle.

I think they hit rock-bottom, it looked like they hit rock-bottom.  I thought I was watching Little League baseball in the fifth inning of that game, when Tyler White completely lost focus of a runner on third base, while he was trying to get an out at second, allowing another run to score.

The usually reserved A.J. Hinch must have thought the same thing as immediately made a disgusted short walk down the steps of the dugout after seeing another poor defensive play by the Houston Astros infield.  After losing the first two games of the series, the Astros put together a complete game, behind decent pitching from Collin McHugh and the bullpen, timely hitting specifically with two outs, and yet another superb offensive performance from Jose Altuve.

So, if the Astros have hit rock-bottom, the only way to go is up right?  Let’s hope so.  The Astros find themselves only five games out of first in the AL West with just a few days left in April.  It’s worth noting that after 22 games last year, the 2015 AL West champion Texas Rangers held the identical record the 2016 Astros have of 7-15.  So, there is obviously plenty of time left, but the amount of talent this club has cannot be held down much longer.  Game three against Seattle looked like the Astros of last year.

Offensively, swings looked to be a bit shorter and got more contact and fewer strikeouts.  In fact, the Astros hitters were only struck out three times in the victory.  The previous two game versus the Mariners saw Houston hitters strikeout 22 times.

The Astros now get a day off, and travel south to Oakland Coliseum to take on the A’s.  Oakland is 11-12 and only 3-7 at home, getting outscored 39-26 in those games.  They are coming off a road trip which saw them go an even 5-5, losing their last five of six games.

Next: Game 1

GAME 1: Mike Fiers (2-1, 5.73) vs. Sean Manaea (0-0, 0.00)

Mike Fiers has won his last two outings, granted his last start was much more worth of a victory.  Against a potent Red Sox lineup, Fiers allowed five hits and struck out six, both 2016 bests.  It was also the first game that he did not allow a home run.  Fiers is a fly ball pitcher, so not giving up the long ones is always key to his success.  Fiers has yet to get past six innings in a start this year, and he will look to go further in this matchup versus Oakland whom he has faced three times in his career with a 3.57 ERA.

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Current Oakland batters are only hitting .157 against him, and Josh Reddick is a paltry 1/9 versus Fiers.  Fiers has steadily increased the usage of his changeup in each start, up to 29% in his last outing, and arguably has been his best pitch this year.  Look for him to continue the use of off-speed pitches at a high rate to constantly keep the A’s off tempo.

Manaea is the A’s No.2 prospect and No.65 overall according to MLB Pipeline, and will be making his major league debut against the Astros.  He is a strikeout pitcher, and in three starts for AAA Nashville, has a 1.50 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 18 innings of work.  He has a low-mid 90’s fastball, a slider, and a change-up.  He definitely has the upside to be a dominant pitcher in the league, and without much tape on him, could pose a challenge to Houston hitters.

Control is his biggest issue so that coupled with debut jitters could work against him.  His fastball and slider are graded above average, but his change-up has been noticed to have a slower arm speed, so we will see if hitters can key in on that or not.Game Prediction: Astros 6 – A’s 3

Game Prediction: Astros 6 – A’s 3

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GAME 3: Doug Fister (1-3, 5.56) vs. Rich Hill (3-2, 2.42)

If Devenski pitches well on Saturday, and McCullers makes his return soon, Fister could find himself in the bullpen with Feldman.  He has not looked impressive at all this season and gave up seven walks to Seattle hitters in his last start.  He did a good job stranding runners, however, and gave the Astros a chance to win, but he needs to turn in a better performance with more control.  Current A’s batters are hitting .324 against him, so he will need to get better action on his pitches to be effective.

Hill has had a great start to 2016.  The 36-year-old hasn’t given up more than three runs in any of his five starts this year and had 37 strikeouts in 26 innings.  Hill’s game is to keep hitters off-balance constantly with a fairly even split of 90 mph fastballs and 75 mph curves.  In fact, this year, he has thrown more curves than fastballs.  This will be the first meeting between Hill and Astros hitters for the most part, and their plate discipline will surely be challenged in the series finale.

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Game Prediction: A’s 6 – Astros 3

The Astros will hopefully carry over their performance in game three of the Seattle series and into Oakland to win consecutive games for the first time this year, and their second season series.  Let’s see if the worst is behind the young ball club.

**Stats from Baseball-Reference**