Astros Pulverize Phillies Behind Arrighetti Dominance and Three Yordan Bombs, 10-0

Spencer Arrighetti took a no-hitter into the eighth inning

Three Yordan Alvarez homers and a Spencer Arrighetti no-hitter through seven innings sent the Astros back home to Houston from Philadelphia on a jubilant note, crushing the Phillies 10-0

The game did not start perfectly. Not quite. Jose Altuve did not lead off this game with one of his signature leadoff homers.

But he did score the first run—by stealing home!

He led off with a double with a shot against Taijuan Walker off the left field wall . Close, but no cigar. Oh well, he got to third, and on a pickoff play to first took off for home and beat Bryce Harper’s throw. What does Jose NOT do?

In the third inning, the Astros managed three singles by the top of the order, Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, and Alex Bregman, but did not score thanks to Altuve getting caught stealing, thrown out by former Astros Garret Stubbs.

In the fourth inning the Phillies weren’t so lucky. Victor Caratini led off with a single. Initially the umpires ruled that Ben Gamel homered him in, but on review it was ruled that Gamel only doubled due to fan interference.

Jake Meyers said, “so what,” doubling home both runners.

After one out, Mauricio Dubon singled home Meyers and with two outs, ALvarez oppo tacoed Dubon home with a fly ball just over the left field wall, making the score 6-0.

Yordan did it again in the seventh, this time a no-doubter, his 27th, increasing the Stro lead to 7-0.

The Astros run-ruled the Phillies in the eighth thanks to three runs on two homers.

Just when just about everyone was ready to give up on Chas McCormick, he smashed a two-run job to right field, pinch hitting for Altuve. For August he was hitting .070 and this was his first homer in two months.

And then Yordan time. His third homer of the game was 408 feet to straight-away center. It is his third career three homer day, which ties him with Jeff Bagwel for the most in Astros history.

The Astros ended with eighteen hits, four doubles and four homers.

Spencer Arrighetti had a no-hitter through seven innings until Austin Hays broke the ice with an infield single. Manager Joe Espada had just inserted Shay Whitcomb at third base, and some will argue that if Bregman were still in, he would have cut off the grounder before it got to the shortstop and thrown out the runner.

Arrighetti was left in and later in the inning surrendered another hit to Trea Turner. Bryan King preserved the shutout by getting Bryce Harper to pop up.

Arrighetti ended the game with the following numbers: 7.2 IP, two hits, four walks, and 11 strikeouts.

It wasn’t long ago before I pencilled in an Arrighetti start as an Astros loss. He, along with Hunter Brown, have suddenly blossomed into two of the best starters in baseball. Arrighetti’s August strikeout of 47 leads the majors. He has allowed only seven runs in 31.2 innings in August, a 2.01 ERA.

If this continues, and the Astros hold their lead in the AL West, Astro pitching looks dominant in the playoffs. And Kyle Tucker can’t possibly miss the whole rest of the season, can he?

The Astros send the aforementioned Brown to face a tough Royals team at MMP, 7:10 CT.

Box score HERE.