Astros lose to Rangers 13-6

I am going to go out on a limb and say that teams that get 3-run home runs from both their 8 and 9 hitters usually win the game. Michael Choice hit a first 3-run home run for the Rangers in the 4th, and that was the big blow, as it turned a relatively close 3-1 ball game to a much more difficult 6-1 deficit. Roughned Odor added an insurance 3-run shot in the 7th for good measure.

I will say that the game was closer than the box score indicates. Entering the 4th, the Rangers were ahead 2-1. With Adrian Beltre on 1st, SS Adam Rosales hit an absolute bullet to 3rd. Petit was at 3rd for the Astros tonight, who is typically very good defensively. Unfortunately, he was not able to make the play, and as the telecast described it, it ended up being a "bad hop single." As an aside, I personally found that interesting. Shouldn't a "bad hop single" be an error in the big leagues? Sure the ball was crushed, but it was hit right at a fielder. To be fair to Petit, it did look to take a tough hop, but isn't that still an error? The ruling on the field was a hit, but since it was hit so hard, if Petit is able to come up with it, he probably starts a double play, and the Astros get out of the inning unscathed. As it was, there were runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out; a softly hit flare drops in center to plate a run; followed by the aforementioned 3-run blast by Choice. Baseball is a game of inches. In this case, inches turned a quick and harmless inning for pitcher Brett Oberholtzer and the Astros into a big 4 run inning for the Texas Rangers.

It is interesting to note that the 5 run 7th inning for the Rangers started with an error from Jose Altuve. Walks and errors (in addition to defensive plays that could have been made but were not) typically come back to bite you, and today's game was an unfortunate example of that. For what it's worth, I am not as down on Altuve's defense as most, and he did make a nice play ranging to his left earlier in the game.

As I am an optimist, I will end on something positive. Jason Castro followed up his grand slam last night with another HR tonight. That gives him 14 on the year, and it would be very encouraging if he could finish the year strong at the plate.