Astros Observations: Sometimes baseball is cruel

The Astros, like all teams, can’t win them all. 

The Astros lost 10-9 to the Indians in 14 innings. In other words, it was an eventful baseball game. 

At the start of the ninth inning, the Astros had a win expectancy of 99.1%. The score was 8-3. Then Jose Ramirez doubled following a 17 pitch at-bat against Ken Giles, which dropped Houston’s win expectancy to 97.8%. Fast forward to the 14th and the Astros lost on a Greg Allen walk-off home run on Brad Peacock’s first pitch of the game. 

Baseball can be cruel. Very cruel. 

We did get to witness the much-hyped Gerrit Cole-Trevor Bauer pitching duel. Cole surrendered three runs over seven innings. Bauer allowed four runs over 7.1 innings. Overall, both pitchers threw the ball well. Cole has some trouble early on, but Bauer ran into issues later in the game. To Cole’s Credit, he did generate 23 called strikes and 10 swinging strikes on 112 pitches. The long ball was the issue on Memorial Day Sunday. 

To the Astros’ credit, the team did split a four-game series with the Indians on the road. While the past two games were disappointing as they ended in Houston defeats, the Indians are a solid club. 

And Jose Altuve did something very cool. 

And historic.

Here was the hit breakdown from Jose Altuve over those ten at-bats.

1. Double
2. Double
3. Single
4. Home Run
5. Single
6. Triple
7. Single
8. Single
9. Double
10. Single

While Altuve is not near the MVP-like pace he was most of 2017, he is still a key reason of the team’s success. Prior to this ten at-bat outburst, the reigning AL MVP went gutless in his last 12 at-bats. If he catches fire, the rest of baseball better watch out.

Next: Astros: Tony Kemp, Max Stassi stepping up with each opportunity

Time to turn our attention to the Yankees series to start the new week on Monday. 

**Statistics and information courtesy of FanGraphs**