Astros 7, Mariners 6: Gattis Heroics Lift Team To Tenth Straight Win

I don't want it to end.  But it's gonna end.  A dumb mistake, a bad inning on the mound, the opposition is going to start a hot pitcher...something is going to cause this winning streak to end.  On the other hand, all of these things happened today and the streak is still intact.  No matter how hard they tried to give the game away they still ended up on top for the 10th time in a row.  Sometimes you win because of pitching and defense.  Sometimes because you feast on the other teams pitching.  Sometimes it is because you have an Evan Gattis that comes up at the right time.

Oso Blanco continued his week long strongman competition in the bottom of the first when he hit a 3-run homer to give the Astros the early lead.  This was his third straight game with a home run.  Gattis with a hot bat is exactly what every fan daydreamed about when we traded for him.  Chris Carter added to the lead in the third inning with a 2-run home run of his own.  In the fourth inning Marwin Gonzalez drove in Jason Castro to make the score 6-1 at that point.

The game seemed well in hand going into the 7th inning.  Roberto Hernandez had given up 2 runs (1 earned) through the 6th inning.  He had worked out of a couple of jams, and his defense helped out quite a bit.  George Springer nailed Brad Miller at home trying to tag up and score on a fly ball.  Originally called safe, Hinch challenged the ruling and it was overturned.  Hernandez seemed to run out of gas after 6 innings.  After giving up 2 singles to start the inning Mike Zunino doubled off of the scoreboard in left field to drive in one to make the score 6-3.  Tony Sipp relieved Hernandez with runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.  He gave up a pinch-hit double to Rickie Weeks which cleared the bases and pull the M's within one run.  Weeks scored the tying run when Jason Castro caught him in a moment of indecisiveness on a ball that got away from him.  The throw had Weeks nailed (or at least in a rundown) but Jonathan Villar had it tip off his glove to allow the run to score.

The Astros didn't fold like Astros teams in the past.  After Pat Neshek set the Mariners down in order in the top half of the inning, it was the right time for Gattis to provide some heroics.  He hit a leadoff line-drive homer into the first row of the Crawford Boxes to retake the lead.  Luke Gregerson, with the help of a double play, collected his 6th save of the season

The team will try to keep the streak alive tomorrow night at home against the Rangers as Dallas Keuchel will face Ross Detwiler at 7pm.

Fun Facts

If you haven't noticed Gattis heating up, he has 5 home runs in the past week.

Jose Altuve's hitting streak came to an end.  Time to start a new one tomorrow.

Jake Marisnick's hitting streak is still going on.  Eleven games and counting.

Not only has the team won 10 in a row, they have won 14 of their last 15, and 18 out of their last 25...

Tweet of the Night (Day)

@espn... Bruh... That's not Altuve. pic.twitter.com/sCPQx1gZPB

— Andrew D. Packard (@apackard1) May 4, 2015