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Houston Astros (5-9) vs. Texas Rangers (8-6), Apr 20, 2016 7:05 PM CDT
TV: ROOT SPORTS Southwest
Online: MLB.TV
Radio: KBME 790, La Nueva 94.1 FM (En Español)
Rangers SB Nation Blog: Lone Star Ball
Pitching Matchup
RHP Doug Fister (1-1, 7.59 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (2-0, 2.95 ERA, 1.25 WHIP)
Preview
Nothing broke the Houston Astros' way in game one of the Lone Star Series. Hard Astros hits found the Texas Rangers' gloves and soft bloop hits found holes in the Astros defense. Pitching was what ultimately did in the Astros on Tuesday. Scott Feldman went only five innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits.
The Astros will need more from Doug Fister if they hope to give Dallas Keuchel the ball in game three with a chance for a series win. Fister hasn't been able to produce that much-needed quality start this season for the Astros. In his first two starts, Fister has allowed nine runs over 10 innings. He hasn’t been able to get out of the fifth inning in either start.
Fister’s fastball velocity has continued drop, making his job even harder: 87.9 in 2014, 86.4 in 2015 and 85.1 in 2016 (stats per FanGraphs.com).
Current Rangers hitters are batting .251 (45/179) against Fister with a .282 BABIP, 3.200 FIP, 14.06 K%, and 3.00 BB%.
| TEXAS RANGERS CAREER STATISTICS VS. DOUG FISTER | ||||||||||||
| BATTER | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Elvis Andrus | 31 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.226 | 0.273 | 0.258 | 0.531 |
| Adrian Beltre | 23 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.348 | 0.333 | 0.435 | 0.768 |
| Robinson Chirinos | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Shin-Soo Choo | 31 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0.323 | 0.344 | 0.613 | 0.957 |
| Ian Desmond | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.250 | 0.400 | 0.250 | 0.650 |
| Prince Fielder | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 3.000 | 4.000 |
| Josh Hamilton | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0.158 | 0.261 | 0.211 | 0.471 |
| Mitch Moreland | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.167 | 0.158 | 0.167 | 0.325 |
| Rougned Odor | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 1.000 | 1.500 |
| Jurickson Profar | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.667 | 0.667 | 0.667 | 1.333 |
Cole Hamels makes his second start against Houston since being traded to the Rangers. Hamels allowed three runs over seven innings in the one start in 2015.
Current Astros are batting .211 (12x57) against Hamels with a .256 BABIP, 2.777 FIP, 26.23 K%, and 0.00 BB% rate.
| HOUSTON ASTROS CAREER STATISTICS VS. COLE HAMELS | ||||||||||||
| BATTER | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Jose Altuve | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.500 | 0.500 | 0.875 | 1.375 |
| Carlos Correa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.500 |
| Evan Gattis | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.308 | 0.308 | 0.769 | 1.077 |
| Carlos Gomez | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.222 | 0.250 | 0.278 | 0.528 |
| Erik Kratz | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.667 |
| Jake Marisnick | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.500 | 0.833 |
| Colby Rasmus | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0.300 | 0.300 | 0.600 | 0.900 |
| George Springer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Luis Valbuena | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.333 | 0.000 | 0.333 |