AJ Blubaugh’s debut marred by crucial fielding error and missed opportunities by the offense
Well, if you love fairy tales, starting pitcher AJ Blubaugh’s MLB debut was not that. Not unless you consider allowing seven runs in four innings a happy ending.
But it wasn’t really as bad as those raw numbers indicate. He started his career with a clean first inning, striking out two. He made a mistake in the second inning, giving up a two-run homer to Colt Keith, but it was the third inning that Blubaugh, but especially Jeremy Pena, would like to forget.
Blubaugh gave up five runs that inning, all unearned, thanks to an error by Pena that turned a double play into runners on first and third. With two outs, Javier Baez hit a Crawford Boxes pop-fly special with a 9% hit probability over the left-field wall for a grand slam. probably giving Blubaugh nightmares tonight.
You weren’t that bad, rookie. Count your six strikeouts when you hit the sack tonight.
But due to untimely hitting and flubbed opportunities, the Astros probably didn’t provide enough run support anyway (unless Hunter Brown was pitching) Pena, who had three hits, opened the game for the Astros with a homer off rookie phenom Jackson Jobe.
The Astros wouldn’t score again until the fifth inning on a Jose Altuve two-run double. After the double, the Astros had runners on first and third with no outs and the bases loaded with one out and could not score.
After Blubaugh’s departure after the fourth, Logan Van Wey worked around four hits to record two scoreless innings, and, in the seventh inning, Steven Okert continued his bullpen dominance with another scoreless inning. In 15 innings, Okert has allowed only one run all year.
Brian King and Caleb Ort contributed scoreless eighth and ninth innings, continuing the outstanding performance of the Astros’ bullpen top to bottom.
In the seventh inning, Victor Caratini inched the Stros a little closer with his own Crawford Boxes-special solo shot. Cam Smith and Brendan Rogers followed Caratini’s homer with singles, but pinch-hitter Yainer Diaz struck out to keep the Astros down by three runs. With two runners on in the eighth inning, Christian Walker struck out, ending another threat. Walker was 0-5 with two Ks and three runners in scoring position left on base.
On the plus side, Jeremy Pena had his second straight three-hit game as a leadoff hitter.
After going 4-7 with runners in scoring position last night, the Astros were 2-10 tonight, leaving twelve runners on base for the night.
The Astros take on the White Sox Friday. Lance McCullers will make his return to the Astros during this series.