Chas Chomps the Astros to 3-2 Win with Two Chas-Bombs

Who is Chas McCormick?

Is he the Astros’ 21st pick in the 2017 draft?

Or is he the guy with the 13th-highest wRC+ in baseball (250+ PAs and why so few)? Or the guy with the fifth-highest wRC+ in MLB in the second half of the season.

Today, Chas McCormick was the guy who knocked in every Astros run with his 14th and 15th home runs en route to a 3-2 Astros win.

It took his home runs to win this one. The Astros had ten chances for RBI with runners in scoring position and failed to produce a run every time. They left 11 runners on base, including two each in innings five through eight.

Fortunately, the Guardians were no better. They did manage two runs against the Astros’ rotational weak link, Ronel Blanco, in the second inning. But in his four innings of work, the Guardians were limited to the two runs despite five hits and four walks against Blanco.

However, following Blanco’s exit, the Astros bullpen of Parker Mushinski, Phil Maton, Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu, and Ryan Pressly held the Guardians to no runs on two hits. A particularly decisive moment was an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning with runners on first and second.

Here are the Chas bombs.

The book on McCormick is he can’t hit the slider. Both homers came off sliders.

By sweeping this series, the Astros ended the game in a virtual tie for first in the AL West, with the Rangers playing the tanking White Sox this evening.

The Astros travel to New York tomorrow for a four-game series against the Yankees. Perhaps Saturday, a new guy named Justin Verlander may start the third game in New York.

Tomorrow’s game is at 6:15 CT, with a recently resurgent Cristian Javier on the mound for the Stros. The game Friday is televised on f#*%ing Apple TV.

Box score HERE.