3 Takeaways from the Houston Astros’ ALDS Game 2 victory

Astros ALDS Game 2 takeaway 1 — Jeremy Pena has been clutch as a set-up man for Yordan Alvarez

It goes without saying that Yordan Alvarez is putting up video game numbers so far in the first two games going four for eight with seven RBI and two home runs, both of which turned a Mariners lead into a Mariners deficit.

But none of those opportunities for Alvarez happen without Jeremy Pena who three times in this series has come up with two outs in the inning and gotten on base for both Alvarez and Alex Bregman to drive him in.

In Game 1 Pena was able to fight off a slider up the middle in a 1-2 count to set up Yordan Alvarez’s rock star home run to win the game.

In game two it was more of the same as in the bottom of the sixth with two outs and Luis Castillo straight rolling having retired eight straight Astros Pena was able to hit a fly ball to center field perfectly placed between Julio Rodriguez and Adam Frazier.

That led to Alvarez coming to the plate and knocking an opposite field home run that gave the Astros a 3-2 lead.

In the eighth it was yet again Jeremy Pena with two outs working a walk forcing the Mariners to intentionally walk Yordan Alvarez and then face Alex Bregman who drove Pena in with a single to right.

It’s always the hitter who knocks the runs in that gets the attention but Pena has taken what could be a breezy one two three inning for Mariners pitching and forced them to face the most feared hitters in the Astros lineup.

Suffice to say, Pena is thriving in the two hole and doing exactly what the Astros need by prolonging innings and giving their big boppers chances to blow the game up.

Astros ALDS Game 2 takeaway 2 –Bryan Abreu and Rafael Montero pitched again rather than a rested Ryne Stanek

Dusty Baker has overall made the right moves in the postseason over the past two years with the Houston Astros.

But yesterday was a truly puzzling move leaving the reliever with the lowest ERA not just on this team, but any team in Astros history in the bullpen despite the fact that he didn’t pitch in game one.

The more hitters see the same pitchers the more familiar they get with them and while Bryan Abreu did a fine job in relief, Rafael Montero had some hard hit balls that happened to find gloves (more on that in a moment.)

Giving Montero one out in the seventh to finish off the inning makes sense but to then have him get three more outs when a fresh Ryne Stanek is sitting in the bullpen is confusing to say the least.

While the Astros won the game it was hardly without its fair share of scares with Montero on the mound. The final out of the seventh inning was a hard shot off the bat of Eugenio Suarez which held up just long enough for Alvarez to get to and in the eighth inning Jarred Kelenic narrowly missed a home run to right field.

Montero had also thrown 21 pitches going into his at-bat with Cal Raleigh so to not have Stanek even warming up in case things got out of control as they almost did a couple of times just doesn’t add up.

Baker after the game said Ryne Stanek was available too so there’s no illness or injury holding him back.

Suffice to say it worked out for the Astros today but not without their fair share of luck. Which brings us to the final takeaway.

Astros ALDS Game 2 takeaway 3 –Houston had some luck with both the strike zone and hard hit balls going right at their fielders

While game two was a victory for the Astros, there were plenty of close calls that nearly turned the game on its head. Oddly enough one of the two runs the Mariners scored was on a soft chopper back at Framber Valdez.

But the Mariners had some hard hits late such as the aforementioned inning ending line drive in the seventh by Eugenio Suarez and the near miss of a two run home run by Jarred Kelenic.

Ryan Pressly also ran into some good fortune as he started off the ninth inning with a four pitch walk to the Mariners number eight hitter Adam Frazier.

The Astros held Frazier on which ended up working out as had they been playing behind him J.P. Crawford’s line out that resulted in a double play would have been a double down the line that would have made the situation at least second and third with no one out and Julio Rodriguez coming to the plate.

Instead it was two outs with no one on and Rodriguez drove a ball to the left center field gap for a harmless double that didn’t amount to anything in the end.

Beyond that Rafael Montero had plenty of luck with the strike zone in the seventh and the eighth inning. During his at-bat to Ty France that ended in a walk Montero threw six pitches. All of them were out of the zone.

Yet despite Ty France not swinging he still faced a 3-2 count and the widened zone was established.

Come the eighth inning Montero got more luck in an at-bat against Carlos Santana that also resulted in a walk where he got a called strike on a changeup well below the zone. It set up his strikeout of Cal Raleigh which was a called strike three on a change up yet again below the zone.

Last but not least was Jeremy Pena’s flair that just happened to find some green space in between Julio Rodriguez and Adam Frazier. Despite the weak contact the Astros caught a break with it being placed in just the right spot.

The old saying is that you need to be good in the playoffs but you also need a little bit of luck. A ball bouncing your way or a line drive that results in a double play rather than an extra base hit is the kind of luck a team needs to win in the topsy turvy world of playoff baseball.

The Astros can’t expect such luck in game three but fortunately they’re talented enough to make the most of their opportunities.

It’ll be interesting to see how the team responds to the Seattle crowd and how Dusty Baker chooses to deploy the bullpen given he didn’t like his odds with a rested Ryne Stanek and chose Rafael Montero for four outs instead.

What is known is that the Astros for now are relying primarily on Jeremy Pena, Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman to get big hits. It’ll be interesting to see if they can continue to win with just those three contributing a majority of the offense or if other bats will need to come to life to complete the series in Seattle.

Game three is Saturday at 3:07 p.m. CT.