Postseason baseball will only become reality for the Astros if they manage to win their final two games, while hoping one of either the Tigers or Guardians loses both of their remaining two games. But don’t get your hopes up with Detroit playing against the Red Sox, who clinched a postseason berth earlier tonight, and […]
Postseason baseball will only become reality for the Astros if they manage to win their final two games, while hoping one of either the Tigers or Guardians loses both of their remaining two games.
But don’t get your hopes up with Detroit playing against the Red Sox, who clinched a postseason berth earlier tonight, and Cleveland is facing the Rangers, who frankly don’t have anything to play for. In other words, the odds are increasingly stacked against Houston to extend its run of postseason appearances dating back to 2017.
But the Astros had opportunities to win this game. While the lineup had issues against Kyle Hendricks, led by a changeup that racked up 10 whiffs on 21 swings, they did eventually score three runs in the fourth inning. It felt like the bats were waking up a bit, right? Christian Walker had a home run. Zach Cole had an RBI double, and he would score not too long after on a double steal. Yes, an actual double steal.
Oh, how wrong I was. First, the Angels immediately started chipping away at the lead, with Mike Trout hitting a solo home run to make it 3-1. Another run in the fifth to make it 3-2, ending Jason Alexander’s night after 4 2/3 innings and only 56 pitches. Of course, the Angels were starting to figure him out, so a third time through the order wasn’t a good idea. Unfortunately, the bullpen continues to leak, with Jayden Murray and Bryan King failing to get out of the seventh inning without allowing another run, this time to tie the game at 3-3. King would then subsequently give up a solo home run to Trout, his second of the game, to give Los Angeles a 4-3 lead. Leaving King to start the eighth inning was defensible; it was curious, however, that Joe Espada brought in Bryan Abreu immediately afterward. If he were available from the start of the inning, with a future Hall of Famer in the batter’s box in a game you almost certainly had to win, then I am not sure why Abreu wasn’t starting the inning.
In any case, Houston’s lineup failed to do much of anything else. Carlos Correa did reach second base in the eighth inning as the tying run with one out, but, predictably, none of the subsequent hitters were able to drive him in. A fitting end in a game that started fine enough before slowly unraveling at the end, much like the Astros’ season in many respects. Ultimately, they will have to win the next two games to have a chance of playing baseball in October once again, along with some help from either the Red Sox or Rangers. So, yeah, I’m not particularly optimistic at the moment. You’ll likely see my next recap in 2026.
Category: General Sports
