ANAHEIM — About the very last thing the Astros wanted Friday night time was to face Shohei Ohtani of the Angels. It was the primary sport after the All-Star break, which meant the gamers had spent the earlier 4 days unfold out all around the nation and making an attempt to clear their minds from baseball.
Stepping into the field to face Ohtani isn’t precisely a delicate touchdown spot for the second half, however the Astros have been as much as the problem towards an Angels group that seemed prefer it hadn’t performed collectively in fairly some time. Mauricio Dubón‘s two-run single within the sixth inning snapped a tie and Houston’s bullpen held the Angels to 1 run in 4 2/3 innings in a 7-5 win Friday night time at Angel Stadium.
“The first one is always a tough one,” Dubón stated. “You came in after [four] off-days and nobody’s seen live pitching in five days and facing one of the best pitchers in the league is kind of tough. Guys showed up and battled through.”
Here are three keys to Friday’s win.
There was in all probability a case to be made that Dubón was probably the most priceless participant of the primary half of the season for the Astros, who’ve been with out injured second baseman Jose Altuve for a lot of the season and misplaced star slugger Yordan Alvarez for the ultimate 28 video games earlier than the break.
Dubón stepped in for Altuve and has finished a strong job, together with a 20-game hitting streak earlier this season. He was 0-for-3 towards Ohtani on Friday earlier than delivering a two-run single within the sixth inning off Jacob Webb that put Houston forward 6-4. He got here round to attain on one in all José Abreu’s three hits.
“That was huge,” Astros supervisor Dusty Baker stated. “With their offense, every run is important. That’s why he’s there, that’s what he’s getting paid for, and he’s been coming up big for us all year.”
The Astros took benefit of a psychological error by the Angels to arrange the three-run inning. With runners on first and second and no outs, Martín Maldonado popped a sacrifice bunt that dropped in entrance of first baseman Mike Moustakas. Jeremy Peña needed to maintain up for a beat at first base and would have been a simple out at second, which seemingly would have began a double play. Instead, Moustakas simply took the out at first.
“We took advantage of a couple of mistakes,” Dubón stated. “The bunt, that was a big break right there.”
Abreu’s three-hit night time
Although he swung the bat higher after June 1, Abreu’s first half definitely wasn’t as much as his expectations or the expectations of the Astros, who signed him to a three-year, $58.5 million contract. So how can a 3-for-3 night time on the plate with a stroll arrange Abreu for achievement within the second half?
“I think the biggest thing is I need to continue working,” he stated. “I know what I can do and what I expect of myself. It didn’t happen in the first half because it wasn’t meant to be, but I know I need to continue working and be able to do the job for the second half.”
Abreu singled and walked towards Ohtani earlier than his sixth-inning hit that drove in Dubón to place the Astros forward 7-4. He delivered one other single within the ninth, giving him his third three-hit sport of the season and motive to hope the second half can be higher than the primary.
“I haven’t been getting the results I’ve been wanting, but things need to change and I have to keep working,” he stated.
Astros nearer Ryan Pressly ended the primary half on a scorching streak, having thrown 11 consecutive hitless innings in 10 video games since June 18 whereas going 8-for-8 in save possibilities. So when he didn’t precisely really feel like himself from the bullpen within the ninth inning Friday, he thought, “Uh oh.”
It didn’t matter. Pressly struck out all three batters he confronted — Ohtani, Taylor Ward and Mickey Moniak — for his twenty first save of the season.
“The results were good, but I felt awful. I’m not even going to sugarcoat it,” he stated. “It’s one of those things you haven’t played for four days and you try to pick up right where you left off and it’s hard to do. You kind of have to go out there and trust your defense and Maldy behind the dish … and just make quality pitches and try to do the best you can. Today, it was awful. I hate coming back after the All-Star break. It’s not like I didn’t do anything [to stay sharp]. It’s just one of those things.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com