A little less then a month ago, Todd Redmond had the best start of his young career. Six innings of one-run ball, complimented by ten strikeouts against the worst team in baseball, the Houston Astros.
Well, now Redmond has a worst start of his career after those same Astros pounded the Toronto righty to the tune of eight runs in 3.1 innings.
The Astros scored in the first five innings - once in the first, second and third, five times in the fourth and twice in the fifth frame. Jose Altuve just missed a two-run home run in the first, but settled for an RBI double. Matt Dominguez led off the bottom of the second inning with a laser that barely cleared the wall and into the Crawford Boxes. Altuve picked up another RBI when he hit a hard comebacker to Redmond that the pitcher could not handle.
Houston started the fourth inning with a Matt Dominguez walk and a Brett Wallace double to put runners on second and third. Brandon Barnes followed with an RBI single to center and Jonathan Villar kept it going with his second triple of the night. This one was lined into the right-center field gap to score Wallace and Barnes, giving Houston a 6-2 lead.
Robbie Grossman drove in another run with a sac fly to make it 7-2 Astros, and L.J. Hoes walked afterwards to end Redmond's night.
Hoes has become quite the table setter for the Astros, going 2-for-3 tonight with two walks, a stolen base and scoring three times. Hoes has 16 hits in his last nine games, scoring eight runs in that span as well.
Jason Castro also got in on the fun in the big fourth inning with his first triple of the year, scoring Hoes.
Chris Carter ended the big inning with a strikeout. Trogdor didn't have as enjoyable a night as everyone else, going 0-for-4 and picking up the Golden Sombrero (four strikeouts for those that didn't pay attention when I referenced the GS when Carter did this before).
Dominguez also walked to start the fifth inning. That means that Dominguez homered and walked twice (only his 19th and 20th free passes of the year) in the same game. I assume TCB's David Coleman is beyond ecstatic about these developments.
Wallace walked and Barnes singled to load the bases for the 'Stros, and Villar hit to into the Astros patented run-scoring double play. Grossman kept it going, though, with an RBI single.
Grossman wasn't done with his night, as he homered to left-center his next time up. The two-run job scoring Wallace (2-for-3, two doubles, walk, three runs) gave Houston a ten-run lead at 12-2.
Meanwhile, Jordan Lyles worked his way to a great outing. The 22-year old gave up solo home runs to Edwin Encarnacion and J.P. Arencibia in the first and fourth inning, respectively. Lyles scattered six other hits and no more runs in his first seven innings of work and also made this nifty play.
Not to be out done, Marwin Gonzalez also put together a web gem of a play in the top of the ninth with the nasty spin throw.
Lyles' good work allowed him to take the mound to start the eighth, but after allowing a one-out single to Adam Lind, Lyles gave up a Brett Lawrie two-run home run on the 115th and final pitch of the night for the righty.
Not a great finish to what was otherwise a very good outing for Lyles. Josh Zeid and Josh Fields combined to finish it out cleanly for Houston.
It was a great night for the Houston offense, but possibly the best moment came in the bottom of the eighth when recently promoted Cody Clark got his first at-bat. The 31-year old catcher toiled for 11 years in the minors before getting the call due to injuries to Carlos Corporan and Max Stassi. Although he struck out, it was pretty awesome to see a guy, who had little to no chance of playing MLB baseball, get his first big league experience.
The Astros will send Brad Peacock to the hill Saturday night for a chance to win the third of their last four series.
More from Crawfish Boxes:
- Astros GIF: Jordan Lyles' Athleticism
- 2013 AL Series: Houston Astros vs. Toronto Blue Jays
- Houston Astros (41-85) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (57-71), 7:10 pm (CT)
- Houston Astros Minor League Recap: 8/22/13
- Jeff Luhnow: Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?