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Astros Spring Notes: Brad Peacock Doesn’t Soar in Latest Start
By Cody Poage
The Astros pitching staff has had better outings than it did yesterday.
What has happened to the Astros pitching staff? Besides the fact that at least 60% of its starting rotation hasn’t pitched yet. Or that the pitchers we have seen so far aren’t not projected to be the best ones on staff.
Anyway, the Astros dropped another Spring Training game yesterday, which doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme. Sure, a 13-1 trouncing by the hands of the Washington Nationals is not a good look. The pride likely hurts after this one. But it doesn’t change a thing about the Astros 2017 season.
Simply put, there wasn’t much to like about this game from Houston’s standpoint. Brad Peacock may have put his 40-man roster spot in jeopardy as he allowed five earned runs in just three innings of work. The Nationals hitters, especially Jayson Werth, made short work of him.
Nats are teeing off on Brad Peacock. Jayson Werth just clubbed a 3-run HR off the left-field pole to make it 4-0 in the first.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 2, 2017
Another lackluster performance for our viewing pleasure was brought you to by Tony Sipp. He would be on the roster bubble if not for his $6 million salary this year. And the year after.
Sipp's inning: out, triple, walk, walk. He's out, and Cy Sneed is on.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) March 2, 2017
The same can be said of Cy Sneed as he allowed five earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched. For those who may not remember he is the pitcher that the Astros received in the Jonathan Villar trade one offseason ago. It just wasn’t a good day in the office for Houston pitchers.
The offense didn’t help matters either.
Outside of a Tyler White solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Astros hitters stalled out. On the plus side we witnessed George Springer and Alex Bregman combine for five of the team’s total ten hits. Yes, I know it is Spring Training. But I’ll take the positives in any way that I can from a game like this one yesterday.
Next: Astros Spring Notes, The Silver Lining of Game Five
Overall, it is simply too early to be concern about the Astros as a whole. Of course, this opinion could sway easily once Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, or Collin McHugh do or do not ramp up their workload in the coming weeks.
**Statistics courtesy of MLB.com**