Astros Survive Strasburg, Still Lose to Washington

This felt a whole lot like a spring training game. I mean, with the names in the Astros lineup each day, it always has a little bit of a spring vibe. This, though, even had the pitchers looking like it's the spring, as neither starter lasted until the fourth inning and both teams used multiple starting pitchers in the game. Well, neither Tom Gorzelanny or Jordan Lyles are currently in a rotation, but they have started games this season. 

Henry Sosa had his first really bomb of a start this season, giving up way too many runs early. You could make a case that his third start, when he gave up four runs in four innings, was just as bad. The fact is, Sosa will have some games like this, but most of the damage in this one came off home runs. In 35 previous innings with the big league team, he'd only given up two home runs total and allowed three in 2 2/3 innings in this one. 

The offense didn't cover itself in glory, but Jimmy Paredes continues to play well and is now  the only one of the three rookies to not be slumping. Paredes also stole a base, showing off one of his biggest assets offensively right now. 

More importantly, the Astros are now T-minus 3 losses away from 100 for the season. With this loss, they've tied a record for the most in franchise history with the '65, '75 and '91 Astros. This year's team has 16 games to go and has won just .387 percent of its games since the beginning of August. If they keep that pace up, they'll go 6-10 and become the first team since the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004 to lose at least 107 games.