Brandon Bielak Silences the Mountain Boys. Astros Over Rockies 4-1

Who is Brandon Bielak?

Well, he’s not supposed to be very good. At least, that’s what most people would say.

Here’s Fangraph’s assessment:

He was shelled during his rookie year, but Bielak’s command of a vanilla five-pitch mix should still fit toward the back of a rotation eventually.

Eventually?

Today he looked like an ace. Seven shutout innings, yes, four walks, but only two hits with four strikeouts. He must be taking lessons from Framber Valdez. He had 11 groundouts and only two flyouts. His changeup is killing it.

And while just-back-from-AAA Bielak was holding down the Rockies, the Astros hitting continued its torrid pace since Yordan Alvarez went down. WHAAAAT?

The Astros have been averaging six runs a game in the last 15 games, with at least one home run in each.

Today it was rookie Grae Kessinger who kept the home run streak alive with his career first in the fourth inning near the gas pump in left-center field. Way to go rook. He also had a single, his second and third career hits.

The Astros added two runs in the fifth, starting with a Jake Meyers infield single and an RBI Mauricio Dubon triple. Dubon scored on a Kyle Tucker single.

The Astros topped off their scoring in the sixth on a Chas McCormick single that scored Alex Bregman.

After Bielak departed the mound after the seventh, Seth Martinez held the Rockies in the eighth, but Ryne Stanek allowed a solo home run to Kris Bryant to wreck the Astros’ shutout.

Although the Astros' run total was modest, they accumulated 13 hits but left the bases loaded in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings. Thank goodness for Brandon Bielak.

Box score HERE.