What a mess.
Lucas Harrell got another chance to impress in a start, and he was rather, uh, unimpressive? Harrell surrendered two runs (one on a badly handled double steal of home) in the first inning to Texas and pitched a scoreless second.
But this is how the third inning started: bunt single, single, sac bunt, intentional walk, single, double, walk, Harrell replaced by Wade LeBlanc with the Astros trailing 6-1.
Things didn't get much better for the newest recalled Astro as he had to deal with Jonathan Villar missing a Jose Altuve throw on an out at second that scored two more. Two batters later Matt Dominguez made an error of his own that allowed a run to score. Still, the Rangers were not done as they added a two-run single, an RBI groundout and an RBI single to round out the 11 scores. In all, the Rangers sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning.
Lucas Harrell finished with a line of 2.1 innings, seven hits, nine runs (seven earned) and three walks.
LeBlanc allowed another run before being pulled in the fifth inning, finishing his return to the Astros with a 2.2 innnigs of work with five runs on five hits allowed, with only one being earned.
Philip Humber's second appearance in his return to the Astros pitching staff saw him allow two more earned runs in his two innings of work. The only pitcher player to have scoreless line? You guessed it, infielder Jake Elmore. Elmore also made his catching debut, leading to a pretty cool stat. Elmore is the 14th player ever to pitch and catch in the same game. (via @OrtizKicks)
At one point it was 15-1, until the Astros would score four runs in the seventh inning. L.J. Hoes contributed an RBI single, followed by a two-run double from Robbie Grossman and an RBI ground-rule double by Brett Wallace.
Overall, the Astros had nine hits and got back-to-back doubles from Jason Castro (2-for-3, walk) and Chris Carter to get their run in the second inning. The only Houston starters to not get a hit was Carlos Corporan, who left in the third due to a foul ball to the head, and Villar.
It appeared afterwards as if something may have been going down in the Astros clubhouse when this was posted.
Something's up. Some Astros players are already leaving, but media has still not been let in to clubhouse.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) August 20, 2013
You know the clubhouse has been closed for too long when players walk out and ask why you haven't been let in.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) August 20, 2013
But nothing came of it, and it appears everything seems to be fine. Now everyone can look forward to Jarred Cosart pitching tomorrow.