Astros are now even in seven-inning doubleheaders all-time

Due to weather conditions on Friday, the Houston Astros‘ contest with the Detroit Tigers was postponed to a doubleheader on Saturday. This shuffled some lineups, but it also added a 27th roster spot for Andre Scrubb to return, who didn’t make an appearance.

As many know now, doubleheaders were changed to seven innings at the start of the 2020 season. This move to speed up the pace of play has worked in part to the two less innings, but extra innings and longer games are reoccurring as well. You either love them or hate them, but it leads to some weird accomplishments.

For game one on Saturday, Framber Valdez threw a quality start, that was also a six-inning complete game loss. This was the first doubleheader of the season, and in an impactful light, it wasn’t in part to COVID-19. The Astros did split their games on Saturday, losing their win streak in the process, but their team history isn’t as bad as I thought it was.

The 2020 Astros dealt with injuries and no time to progress, but they weren’t awful in doubleheaders.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

COVID-19, a protest and weather issues led to four doubleheaders for the Astros in 2020. While many remember the small sample size as the season plagued by an injury bug among no time for players to get hot, I assumed doubleheaders hurt the team.

They ended up even at 4-4 in doubleheader matchups that season, which is weird for a team that finds a lot of production in the final innings. On Saturday, the Astros’ offense wasn’t hot early in the day, as they dropped 1-3. Once the sixth inning rolled around in game two, Yordan Alvarez and Carlos Correa rallied late for their second win against the Tigers this season.

A.J. Hinch seems to have his former employer’s number ever since he took the managerial job with Detroit. His Tigers are now 4-2 against the AL West leaders this season. They close out the series tomorrow at 12:10 p.m. with Jake Odorizzi off the rubber against left-hander Tarik Skubal.

On the farm, Bryan Abreu made his rehab start with the Sugar Land Skeeters on Saturday. The right-hander fanned two over one inning on 13 total pitches, while topping out at 97 MPH.