Houston can’t avoid sweep; loses 4-2 to Guardians

This is the Astros first sweep in over two months

Unable to avoid the sweep, the Houston Astros fell to the Cleveland Guardians 4-2 in Daikin Park. This is the Astros first time getting swept this season since the start of May, when they suffered a three-game sweep to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Things started out on a bad note for the Astros when, during pre-game, Jake Meyers, who has been out since the final game of the Dodgers series, attempted to come back and make a start in center, just to seemingly reinjure his leg. He was then walked off the field with a trainer and out of the outfield gate.

It is hoped that with an off day tomorrow, Meyers will be okay to be able to start the first game of the Silver Boot Series against the Rangers.

Once the game started, things didn’t get much better. After getting the first out of the game, the Guardians instantly jumped in front with back-to-back home runs, putting them up 2-0 right away.

Following those two homers, Astros starter Brandon Walter sat down the next 17 Guardians in order, not allowing another to reach base. Through his first 30+ innings this season, he has only walked two batters.

Brandon Walter’s final line:

6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 95-60 TP-S

Despite the next five innings being perfect, Walter still left with his team down and handed the ball to Bennett Sousa as the first arm out of the pen.

Once he came in, the Guardians got back to work right away on him, getting their first hit since the first inning. This was followed by another single and a walk, loading the bases with no-outs before a two-run RBI-single doubled the Guardians lead to 4-0.

He was followed out of the pen by Bryan King who gave the Astros two scoreless innings following Sousa.

The Astros bats had no answers for Guardians starter Slade Cecconi, who held the Astros scoreless for just over seven innings before Houston’s first run knocked him out of the game.

This came on an RBI-double from Mauricio Dubón, scoring Taylor Trammell from first. This double extended his hit streak to a team-high nine games as he continues to play more and more without Jeremy Peña in there.

Once the Guardians went into their pen, the Astros continued to do work in the inning, adding another run with an RBI-double from Altuve and putting the Astros back just 4-2. Unfortunately though, that was all the Astros were able to get across, taking the loss.

The only Astros hitter that was able to reach first more than one time was Yainer Diaz, who was responsible for one of the Astros six hits and one of their two walks.

This loss gives Cleveland the sweep over Houston. Coming into the series, the Guardians had lost 10-straight games and we had just had one of our best road trips of the year. Something ain’t adding up.

The Astros have an off day tomorrow before they welcome the Texas Rangers to town for the Silver Boot Series, the final series before the All-Star break. That all starts on Friday at 7:10 P.M.