Hunter Brown takes the mound to stop the freefall.
Remember when the Astros took eight of nine games against division leaders, Cubs, Phillies and Dodgers?
I remember. With all the injuries, It didn’t seem real.
But as they say, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
The Astros have lost seven of their last games. With a loss today it would be eight out of nine, mostly to division rivals. You can lament the extra inning loss last night. It was a heartbreaker, but the Astros’ only win during this slump was also in extra innings. But this time the team had to compete with yet another of their “team’s best hitter” down with injury in crunch time. And don’t expect him back any time too soon.
First Yordan, then Pena, now All-Star Isaac Paredes.
Don’t expect many runs from the lineup that Manager Joe espada has to cobble together to go against sharpshooter Bryan Woo. The rookie Cam Smith will lead off for the first time in his MLB career. I think he started the season at eight or nine. He has steadily moved up until now he’s number one. Under any other GM besides Dana Brown he’d probably still be in the minors, like about half of the rest of this roster.
The one constant this year has been the dominance of Hunter Brown. He will have to be at his best today if the Astros are going to avoid the sweep. Unfortunately, in his last two starts he has allowed almost a run per inning. Let’s hope a couple of days extra rest helps him get his form back.
The good news is that the Astros will still hold a two-game lead in the AL West even if they lose today. The bad news is, it’s hard to see how this slide gets turned around until Alvarez, Pena, Meyers, Paredes, Arrighetti, Javier, Garcia, Dubin (am I forgetting anyone?) return and we see the team from Houston playing again instead of the impostors from Sugarland.
Here’s the lineup.
