Game Recap: Also, there was a game tonight; 10-4 Loss to Cleveland

After the busy and exciting Trade Deadline earlier this afternoon, the night’s game versus the Indians felt a little bit like an afterthought, if we’re being honest. But nevertheless, the game against the Indians went ahead as planned, and the Astros dropped it 10-4.

The Astros’ offense was decent for the night, and struck first, with Carlos Correa leading off the second with a home run off of rookie starter Zach Plesac to start the scoring on the night. And Yuli Gurriel decided to close out his Player of the Month for July strong the following inning, as he smacked a bases-loaded double down the line to pick up three RBI.

Overall, it wasn’t the best offensive show of force, but it was a respectable enough outing, with the team turning six hits and six walks into 4 runs. Correa had a strong night, always encouraging for a player recently returned from injuries, as he added a leadoff double in the sixth inning. Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, and Josh Reddick all added singles.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so hot on the pitching side of things. With a 1-0 lead in the second, José Urquidy had a bit of a meltdown, putting two runners on before allowing a home run to Roberto Pérez.

It seemed like Urquidy pulled things together after that, throwing a scoreless third and fourth and holding on to the Astros’ new Yuli-provided lead, but the fifth inning proved to be his undoing. The first two runners reached (on a double and a sacrifice bunt where the Astros failed to make an out at third), and then Carlos Santana gave the Indians their second three-run homer of the night. That spelled the end for him, with a final line of 4.0+ innings, eight hits allowed, six runs, one walk, and one strikeout.

On the bullpen side of things, it was almost a solid night. Chris Devenski finished out the fifth for Urquidy with two strikeouts, Cy Sneed threw a shutout inning with a walk and a K, and Bryan Abreu finished things off a scoreless eighth inning for his major league debut. But Collin McHugh also a night to forget of his own when he came in for the sixth inning, as he gave up a second home run to Pérez to start things off, then yet another three-run dinger, this time to Jason Kipnis. Final score, 10-4.

Clearly, the Astros should have done something to address these pitching problems earlier today, but alas, the deadline has passed and they can no longer acquire any arms.

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Anyway, the loss knocks Houston to 69-40, where they are 7.5 games ahead of the A’s for the AL West lead and in a virtual tie with the Yankees for best record in the AL. The rubber match of this series in Cleveland takes place tomorrow at 6:10 PM CDT, with Gerrit Cole matching up against Danny Salazar, who is coming off of shoulder surgery to make his first Major League appearance since 2017.