Three numbers and the Astros demote Derek Fisher?!

In what has become a familiar scene this season, the Astros outperformed their competition last night.

Thanks to multiple solo home runs and quality pitching, the Astros came away with a 4-to-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics. Nothing surprising in that statement as the Astros are quite good and the A’s, well, not so much.

If the A’s were a team of Jed Lowrie’s, though, then it may be possible that Houston would never beat Oakland again. Seriously, Lowrie seems to inflict some kind of damage to the Astros. I wouldn’t blame him either as he was traded from Texas to California by the same team twice. I think I would bring something a little extra to these games if I were in Lowrie’s shoes. Or cleats. Whatever, that part doesn’t matter.

Of course, I’m still somewhat surprised the Astros demoted Derek Fisher following the game. But I’ll get to more of this news in a moment.

8 strikeouts

Once again, Brad Peacock has taken flight! In all seriousness, eight strikeouts in 5.2 innings from Peacock is impressive. One could argue that he has become a strikeout machine.

Here are his strikeout totals in each start this season.

5/22: 8 strikeouts

5/29: 8 strikeouts

6/4: 9 strikeouts

6/9: 1 strikeout

6/13: 10 strikeouts

6/19: 8 strikeouts

That’s a total of 44 strikeouts in six starts. Sure, Peacock is pitching deep into games as he’s only made it past the fifth inning in just two outings. But the results, short or not, have been impressive for the most part. Last night was just another example.

20 home runs

No, there wasn’t 20 home runs in last night’s game. But how epic would that be, right?

The 20 home runs is actually the amount of dingers we have witnessed from George Springer this season. In fact, he has done something that hasn’t been seen from an Astros batter since 2008.

Hopefully Springer has better luck than Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee did once they passed the 20 home run mark. You see, Berkman and Lee finished with 29 and 28 long balls, respectively. For what it’s worth, Springer is now on pace for roughly 50 home runs over the course of an 162-game season.

.992 OPS

The sample size is relatively small, but how can you not be impressed with Derek Fisher? The outfield prospect posted a .992 OPS in his first 21 plate appearances in the big leagues.

The guy looks like he belongs in the majors, plain and simple. For example, here is his home run from last night that afforded the Astros breathing room against the A’s.

He had been a force in the lineup since his promotion. You may remember his first career home run against the Texas Rangers last Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the Astros decided to demote Fisher as outfielder Josh Reddick is eligible to come of the DL Tuesday.

This may come as a shock when you consider that Nori Aoki and his .641 OPS is still on the active roster. And I understand the confusion.

Next: Astros: Will Harris still a major part of the bullpen

However, the Astros are rumored to have their eyes on multiple starting pitchers at the deadline and Fisher could be used as a valuable trade chip. And his recent performance has only accentuated not only our appetites, but also of other teams. There is a purpose to this demotion. With the Astros, you better believe that is a purpose.

**Statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs and MLB.com**