Astros Weekend in Review

What did you miss over the weekend at TCB? Here's a recap of the minor league goings-on and a replay of what happened in the Rangers series.

Friday

Behind a nice effort from Collin McHugh, the Astros downed the Rangers and spoiled Arlington's home opener. Jed Lowrie hit another home run while Colby Rasmus hit his first dinger as a Houston Astro. Robbie Grossman had two hits and Jake Marisnick was on fire, which will be a theme of the weekend.

In the minors on Friday, Mark Appel pitched well while Carlos Correa hit a pair of doubles.

Saturday

Timmy Kennedy helped us preview the National League West.

In the game against the Rangers, Houston'd defense faltered and the Astros lost 6-2, despite a nice effort from Roberto Hernandez in his debut with the team. From Idrees' recap:

The sloppy play continued, as the Astros ended up with three errors on the night, which led to four unearned runs. That's not good, and you are not going to win many games playing bad defense like that. Let me add a few brief positives, as Colby Rasmus made a night catch retreating in LF, followed-up immediately by Jake Marisnick showing off his range by making a nice running catch in right-center. I know you have heard it before, but Marisnick is a really good defensive center fielder.

In the minors, Daniel Mengden impressed, striking out eight in four innings for Quad Cities.

Sunday

Houston took the series with the Rangers, but it took them 14 innings to do it. After blasting a pair of home runs in the second (including a two-run shot from red-hot Marisnick), Houston's offense went cold for 13 innings. The Astros finally picked things up when Hank Conger hit a two-run home run in his only plate appearance of the game.

You can see Conger's home run framed right here.

News and notes

Josh Fields is gearing up for a return soon. The reliever will report to Triple-A Fresno for a rehab assignment.

Meanwhile, another DLed Astro, Brad Peacock, needs at least one start before he's ready to return to the rotation. That probably puts Asher Wojciechowski on notice for his next start, which should fall Tuesday against the A's.