Astros Live Game Feed: Game 35 Preview

Houston Astros Live Game Feed Versus the Indians

Last night, the Houston Astros fell 4-0, despite a solid effort by Chris Devenski, who will stay in the Astros rotation for now. Per Brian McTaggart, the Astros will use a six-man rotation for now and will re-evaluate it in a few weeks. Trevor Bauer shut the Astros offense down, and Josh Fields gave up two runs to put the games out of reach. Will the Astros get the series win today, we will see with Doug Fister on the mound.

AME 3: Danny Salazar (3-2, 1.91) vs. Doug Fister (3-3, 4.54)

Danny Salazar has opened up 2016 extremely well.  The power pitcher, whose fastball tops out around 98 mph and averages around 94 mph, has upped his K/9 average from last season to 10.3.  At the same time, his H/9 are at an extremely low 4.9.  He is utterly dominating hitters and has only had one bad outing this year, in which he struggled with his control, and was pulled in the fifth inning.  Against a heavy strikeout team like the Astros, Salazar could be in for a big day if he is on.  Salazar has minimal experience versus Houston but in his two

Salazar has minimal experience versus Houston, but in his two starts, he has a 1.35 ERA, earning no-decisions in both.  Salazar has been getting, even more, movement on all of his pitches this year, and his changeup is probably his most improved pitch, which is getting a ridiculous 68.4% ground ball rate of batted balls.  Unless his control is off, no team has found an answer to combat his pitching this year.

Doug Fister has quietly become the Astros most consistent starter.  He doesn’t have the highlight reel pitching arsenal of years past, but he is getting the job done, and keeping his team in games.  He has won his last two starts, and in his last four outings has not allowed more than three earned runs.  Fister does have history against the Indians from his time in AL Central with Detroit, with a 5-3 record and a 2.73 ERA to boot.  His last appearance against them was back in 2013, and most of the current Cleveland batters have been acquired from other clubs.

The current Indian lineup is hitting a cumulative .311 against Fister, with Rajai Davis, Jason Kipnis, and Marlon Byrd all hitting .400 or better against him, and Michael Brantley is hitting .367 with two home runs against the Astros’ right-hander.  With as efficient as Fister has been recent, he is still allowing too many home runs, giving up at least one in each of his last four starts.

Next: Houston Astros: The Long Relief Battle Reopened

He’s doing a great job at stranding runners on base, but he doesn’t have the stuff to keep that up all season, he needs to limit the long ball, and continue to get a high ground-ball rate to have continued success.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***