Jake Meyers Continues To Rake, Astros Defeat A’s 6-3

We’ve all known for a while that Jake Meyers had plenty of promise. That 2021 debut, while not perfect, did enough to put Meyers on the radar, for die-hard and casual fans alike. But that unfortunate shoulder injury in that season’s ALDS derailed not only his 2022 season but also likely influenced his 2023 struggles. I was nearly certain the Astros would attempt to move him in an offseason trade. I mean, the defense was never in doubt, even with an average at best arm. The question always hinged on his bat. If that aspect of Meyers’s profile ever turned the right corner, he would be a valuable player.

Thankfully, Dana Brown decided to keep Meyers within the organization and allow him to play regularly. That decision has helped bolster a lineup that has seen prolonged slumps from Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. Meyers has arguably become the second-best hitter on the club for its first 51 games, hitting .300/.369/.545 with six home runs and a 160 wRC+. For reference, Kyle Tucker is the only Astro with a higher wRC+ on the season. Just as we all drew it up back in Spring Training. The Meyers part, to be clear, not the Tucker part.

While the Astros’ recent 7-3 homestand was a success, the series against the Angels was relatively frustrating. Not only did they lose the series, but it was also how those losses occurred. Following Thursday’s off day, it felt like this club needed a strong start to this road series in Oakland. Cue Justin Verlander, who finally passed Greg Maddux for 10th place on the all-time strikeout list. The opposing hitter? Abraham Toro. Baseball is funny sometimes.

Six innings of one-run ball from Verlander, striking out nine while walking none in the process, is exactly what this team needed to open this series. Bryan Abreu continued his up-and-down performance this season, allowing a run on two hits but also striking out two. Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader continued their recent resurgence with each throwing a shutout inning. Overall, it was a strong day for the pitching staff, other than a blemish or two.

While Verlander deserves his fair share of the credit, the lineup finally broke out in the fourth inning. All of the Astros’ six runs occurred in the top half of the frame, led by Meyers’ sixth home run — a three-run shot — on the season. It was his only hit of the day, but it was a major one.

Yordan Alvarez also had two hits and an RBI, including a double. Alex Bregman drove in two on an RBI single. Jose Altuve collected three hits. The only Astro hitter to not collect a hit was Jeremy Peña. While the lineup didn’t do much outside of that fourth inning, it proved to establish a lead that the Astros would never relinquish.

The AL West race is now becoming a three-team race instead of two. Houston only trails Texas by ¹⁄₂ game in the standings for second place in the division, with the Mariners only ahead by 3.5 games. Depending on how the next two days unfold, the Astros are possibly in the position to truly challenge for the division lead by their upcoming four-game set in Seattle to start the new week. Not exactly a sentence I’d expected to write following that dreadful start to the season.