Astros Fall Just Short In Extras; Feldman Pitches Masterfully With Heavy Heart

The Astros' bats went silent once again yesterday at Globe Life Park against Yu Darvish, they collected only one hit against the Rangers' ace pitcher. Houston had only two total hits over 12 innings. But, the story wasn't about the loss or Darvish's dominance because that's nothing new. The story of this game is Scott Feldman, who went toe-to-toe with Darvish and didn't blink. Feldman pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball, scattering two hits and four walks.

Feldman took the mound yesterday with a heavy heart. Marshall Feldman, Scott's father, lost his battle with brain cancer on Wednesday. This was also the first game that Feldman had pitched in Arlington since he left the Rangers in 2012 via free agency. The Rangers drafted Feldman, and he spent the first eight years of his major league career in Texas. Last night was truly a monumental effort by Feldman to keep his emotions in check. He pitched like the leader of the Astros' staff.

After three starts, Feldman has record of 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP.

On the flip side, Yu Darvish once again flirted with history against the Astros - retiring the first 15 batters he faced on Friday. The Japanese import struck out nine and walked one over eight innings. The lone hit came from Matt Dominguez, who accounted for both of the Astros' hits last night.

Bo Porter played all the right cards once the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, the Ranger loaded the bases with no outs. Porter replaced Robbie Grossman with Marwin Gonzalez to add a fifth infielder. He stayed with Brad Peacock, who struggled to get his breaking stuff over the plate to load the bases. Mitch Moreland ground to first, Marc Krauss calmly threw home to force Alex Rios at the plate. Robinson Chirinos struck out and Leonys Martin grounded out to Altuve to end the inning. The Astros lived to fight another day.

Brad Peacock settled down after his rough first inning. The key play was Kevin Kouzmanoff getting on base and stealing second as a blocked ball slipped away from Jason Castro in the twelfth. Robinson Chirinos dropped a hit in front of Dexter Fowler to drive in the winning run.

As a team, the Rangers were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring postion. While the Astros went 2-for-37 in the game at the plate. As a team the Astros are batting a league worst .188 (66-352) in their first 11 games. If they hope to win anything, that will have to change.

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