As Joe in Birmingham made note of in the game thread, the Astros were officially eliminated from Wild Card consideration this evening.

As you were.

Pitching

Fernando Abad made his second start for the Astros and pitched well early but fell apart in the fifth inning. In the first four innings he allowed only two runs and looked to be providing the Astros with a chance to win this game. Then the fifth inning happened and when it was all said and done the Reds had taken a four run lead, which against this bullpen pretty much means game over. Abad finished the night with 4.1 innings pitched, six earned runs allowed on nine hits, two walks and a strikeout.

Mickey Storey relieved Abad and allowed two solid innings allowing a run to score on two hits. He also struck out four Red hitters. Wesley Wright relieved Storey and allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in .2 innings. Fernando Rodriguez relieved Wright and pitched a perfect eighth inning. Wilton Lopez relieved Rodriguez and pitched a perfect ninth innings.

Offense

Fans of Fernando Martinez and Matt Dominguez should be happy with this game as they hit back to back homeruns in the fourth inning. For Dominguez it was his first Major League homerun. The Astros did add a run in the eight but by that time the Reds had padded their lead by seven runs.

Jason Castro, Brett Wallace and Jimmy Paredes all reached base multiple times this game.

Defense

Everything we hear about Jimmy Paredes struggles in the outfield came to fruition tonight. He had trouble with positioning and as OremLK pointed out in the game thread, balls rolling past him:

You would think those grounders in front of him would be the easiest plays

Transitioning from the infield. But what do I know.

Saturday

Homer Bailey vs Lucas Harrell 6:05 pm CT.