These Astros got home just in time, or so it seemed on the surface. It's been a tough run of late for the Astros. They are 6-12 in July coming off a 2-4 road trip that included a season-high 13-1 shellacking by the A's. They're 42-60 overall, which is probably qualitatively better than any time in the last three seasons but still pretty awful. And, unfortunately, they're trending down. They've endured more bad publicity, scorn and ridicule than a peripheral royal family member. Their 2012 1-1's legs fell off or something like that and is out until spring training. Their 2013 1-1 has set the bar so low with his early performance that the reaction to his six inning two run outing more closely resembled what one might experience at Carnival in Rio. And their 2014 1-1 is, essentially, suing them. Their once over-performing pitching staff has been under-performing, especially Keuchel who hasn't had a quality start in his last five appearances.
Half the damn roster is on the DL, including the entire starting outfield and all of their mothers.
Tonight's starting lineup, facing a lefty and cobbled together out of duct tape, was an unsightly mess. After Altuve and Kiké, not a single starter was hitting above .236. Gregorio Petit was added to the starting lineup so he could be plunked in at shortstop so Kiké could be put in center so Grossman could be placed in right so Hoes could be placed in left so I would get an ulcer every time a ball so much as hinted at going near the outfield. Here's something I noticed over the course of the evening: nobody in this patchwork outfield can throw. They're not too good at running or catching, either. Grossman, who has made multiple horrific throws from right field over the last few games, mistimed a jump at a foul ball near the wall that could have been caught. Kiké later misread a line drive that popped out of his glove for an error that led to the games only two (unearned) runs.
Keuchel threw a whale of a game, which is great news, giving up just the two unearned runs over seven innings. His command and control were a combined thing of beauty; he looked pretty much like the Keuchel we saw over the first couple of months of the season. He single-handedly kept the Astros in the game the whole way. So there's your unqualified good news.
Your qualified good news is that Petit got one of the Astros few hits and made some nice plays at short. He looks pretty good, though certainly not great. And Altuve got another hit.
But the story of the game was Marlin lefty Hand's utter dominance over the Astros. He out-Keucheled Keuchel, with great command and control, inducing a lot of ground ball outs, going 7.1 innings, giving up just three hits and two walks, before giving way after allowing a double down the right field line to Castro. But the Astros in the end weren't able to take advantage as Singleton came in to pinch hit but struck out to end the inning.