A Titanic collapse: the Astros blow another lead

I guess you can’t win em all?

For the second straight night, the Astros had a superior performance from their starting pitcher, this time the Astros would squander it.

Framber Valdez got back on track on Tuesday night, striking out five batters, walking zero, and inducing a whopping thirteen groundouts in 7 ²⁄₃ innings. However, in the first inning it appeared he was going to have another bad outing, but some great defense helped him start the game off well, and he wouldn’t look back.

Both starters pitched well, especially in the early going. Jose Berrios faced the minimum through three innings and Valdez kept the Blue Jays off the board.

That would change in the bottom of the fourth when the best sub 5’8”, Venezuelan, second baseman of all time hit a booming homerun.

Unfortunately, the Astros missed several opportunities to build their lead. Diaz walked to open the bottom of the 7th, and Jose Abreu followed him up with a groundball single. With runners on the corners and no outs, the Blue Jays replaced Berrios with former Astro great Yimi Garcia. It looked like the Astros blow the game open, but McCormick, Pena, and Caratini were put down in order without scoring a run.

With the way Valdez was pitching, it felt like the Astros had a 10-0 lead. In the 8th, Valdez gave up swinging bunt single to IKF, but managed to bounce back by inducing yet another out via the ground ball. With a runner on first and two outs, and Springer coming to the plate, Espada decided to go to the bullpen and put Presley in the game. The mini-threat would end with Springer grounding out.

Pulling Framber was clearly the right move with Presley and Hader fully rested, but Valdez was only at 85 pitches and he looked like he was completely capable of finishing off the game. Valdez was wild his first start, but he showed glimpses of his 2022 self by inducing a lot of groundballs. Tonight, Framber kept the ball on the ground and didn’t walk anyone. Plus, he generated nine swings and misses out of 85 pitches.

Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe the Astros should have left Valdez in. After yet another wasted opportunity in the bottom of the 8th, closed off by a boneheaded baserunning mistake by Altuve, Hader gave up a two run homer to Davis Schneider.

The bottom of the ninth looked promising, but another baserunning error, this time by Meyers, stifled whatever chance the team had at a rally.

Final score Blue Jays 2, Astros 1.

That game sucked for a bunch of reasons.

1. Valdez looked awesome, at the time I agreed with taking him out, but man he was rolling!
2. The Astros actually competed pretty well, picking up 7 hits and drawing 4 walks, but they couldn’t get that key hit to put the game away.
3. The Astros were just one out from picking up their second straight shutout.

With that said, there are a lot of positives from tonight. Valdez and the rest of the defense did a great job preventing runs. Diaz drew another walk; if he can develop some plate discipline he may develop into a special player. Lastly, although the Astros only scored one run, they made solid contact throughout the game. According to Baseball Savant, their team xBA was a hefty .312.

Listen guys, these losses suck; I know it, you know it, my next door neighbor knows it (I don’t think he watches baseball). But let’s not sound the panic alarm on these Astros. Baseball happens sometimes, and it is a long season.