19 K’s not enough, Astros lose 2-1 to the Nationals

The opponent scoring streak is over! But the losing isn’t.

Framber Valdez(11-4, 2.62 ERA) got the start tonight, as the Astros tonight began a 3 game home series against the Washington Nationals and Brad Lord(2-5, 3.27 ERA). Not going to lie, this one really hurt. Because, in one of the more disappointing offensive efforts of the entire season, the Astros pitching staff struck out 19 Nationals while giving up only two hits, and were rewarded with only one run of support across 9 innings. But hey, at least we scored first right?…right?

First pitch: 7:11PM

As we all predicted, it was a certified pitcher’s duel through the first 4.2 Innings of the ballgame, with both teams still being tied 0-0 going into the bottom of the 5th. Brad Lord, through said innings, struck out two batters and had himself a perfect game going Astros hitters on only 45 pitches. Framber responded in kind with some sauce of his own, going: 2H, 1BB, and 10K(!!!) And speaking of K’s, Framber Valdez further cemented his legacy as an all-time Astro by being the 10th Astros pitcher in franchise history to eclipse 1,000 career strikeouts. He did this in the top of the 3rd by striking out Alex Call:

And then… It finally happened. No, not GTA 6 releasing, but THE ASTROS SCORING FIRST AGAINST AN OPPONENT! Since July 4th against the Dodgers in LA, being 18 straight games and what felt like two presidential terms, the Astros have not led an opposing team first in a ball game. That was until, with 2 outs, Mauricio Dubon ripped a double to left field on the first pitch he saw(because of course) and scored Yainer Diaz from 1st base following his 4-pitch walk the at-bat before:

Brice Matthews then lined out the very next at-bat, but the seal had already been broken and the Astros then led the Nats 1- 0. The lead was short lived, however.

In the top of the 6th, after grounding out C.J. Abrams and K’ing up Alex Call(11!), DH Josh Bell then drew a walk on Framber, leading to Nathaniel Lowe stepping up to the plate. Then, HP Ump Lance Barksdale missed a strike 3 call on a 98mph sinker on the outside edge, which allowed Lowe to hit a ground ball double to right field on the very next pitch. The score was tied 1-1. Framber then struck out Paul DeJong to end the inning, ending the threat and bringing his K total on the night to 12.

Following a fairly uneventful bottom of the 6th, which featured only a line drive single to left field by Taylor Trammell, the Nationals then took the lead 2-1 against Bryan King in the top of the 7th on a 2-out Riley Adams homer to right field. King then walked Jacob Young on 5 pitches and struck out C.J. Abrams to end the inning.

Replacing Konnor Pilkington(what a baseball name) in the bottom of the 7th, Luis García (not ours, theirs) gave up a leadoff double to Christian Walker, followed by a 4-pitch walk to Jacob Melton. With 2 on and nobody out, the Astros then follow that up with something amazing like an RBI single or maybe even a homer….right? Wrong. Because, within the next two pitches, Yainer Diaz then grounded into a double play, moving Walker to 3rd but eliminating himself and Melton in the process. 2 outs now. (I was tempted to label Yainer as a groundball merchant in this recap, but I will withhold that sentiment for now) Dubón then completed the missed RISP opportunity by getting called out on strikes on a 3-2 count on another missed call by Barksdale on an 82 mph sweeper outside to end the inning.

Bryan Abreu then replaced Bryan King in the top of the 8th. He started off strong by striking out both Alex Call and Josh Bell. Then, following a walk of Lowe, Abreu then struck out Luis García Jr. to end the inning and bring the total team strikeout count to 17 on the night. And it needs to be said, it’s weird that the Nationals get to have two Luis García’s and we can’t even get one back.. But, I digress.

Going into the bottom of the 8th, Jose Ferrer was the new pitcher for the Nats, and not even two batters in, Lance Barksdale missed yet another call that again hurt the Astros by ringing up Brice Matthews on strikes on a 98mph sinker that missed the zone off of the top right corner. That was followed by a Chas McCormick strikeout, a Cooper Hummel single, and Jose Altuve grounding up the middle to C.J. Abrams for the force out of Hummel at 2nd to end the inning. *SIGH*

After what seemed like a month off(considering the A’s didn’t make things close), we finally saw closer Josh Hader enter the game in the top of the 9th to try and hold the Nats to 2 runs and give the Astros a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning. Hader responded to the moment with a grown man outing, striking out Dylan Lile and Brady House(18th & 19th K’s), and getting a shallow Riley Adams fly out to Brice Matthews at 2nd to end the inning.

Closing for the Nats in the bottom of the 9th, Kyle Finnegan then entered the game to try and keep the Astros from tying things up at the minimum. Victor Caratini and Christian Walker both grounded out back to back, bringing Jacob Melton up to the plate as the final hope for the home team. Want to guess how that ended? You guessed it, a strikeout to end the ball game. Yay.

Bryan King wears the L for the Astros tonight, while Pilkington and Finnegan for the Nats got the W and the save respectively. Astros now drop to 60-47 on the season, lowering their division lead to 3.5 games, with the Mariners having a chance to make it only 3.0 if they beat the A’s tonight. (Currently up 1-0 in the top of the 4th)

With the loss, the Astros have now secured their longest losing streak of the season with 5 in a row. The Nationals have now won 3 straight. (This was also the first Framber led loss since May 2nd.)

Michael Soroka(3-8, 4.85 ERA) gets the start tomorrow for the Nationals in the 2nd game of the 3 game set. The Astros still have yet to determine a starter for the game.

Box Score