The depth of the Astros’ lineup, particularly with a wholesome Yordan Alvarez, José Abreu and Michael Brantley, goes nicely past their beginning second baseman, and it overpowered the struggling Rangers. And on an evening when Altuve was held hitless, the Astros nonetheless pounded the baseball throughout Globe Life Field.
The Astros put an exclamation level on a dominating sweep of the Rangers within the finale of the Lone Star Series by driving seven robust innings from Justin Verlander and crushing 5 homers, together with a grand slam and a three-run homer by Abreu, for a 12-3 rout of the Rangers.
“If there’s one person that gets impressed by what this team can do, it’s me because I’m new here,” Abreu stated. “I think that this organization, these guys, when the lights are shining bright, they know how to handle things, they know how to do things well. I’m just very grateful to be part of this, as well.”
The Astros outscored the Rangers, 39-10, and outhit them, 50-22, whereas bashing a club-record 16 house runs within the three-game collection to run their highway successful streak to eight video games. They hit at the least 5 homers in three consecutive video games, which ties a Major League document.
“Obviously this was not a good series,” Rangers supervisor Bruce Bochy stated. “There wasn’t a lot we did well, to be honest. They played well. They got hot on us, and they didn’t miss any mistakes. The long ball killed us in this series. We just didn’t execute pitches. We left a lot up throughout the series, and we paid for it. They pitched well, they swung the bats and they put it to us, there’s no getting around that.”
The much-anticipated pitcher’s duel between Verlander and Max Scherzer — each of whom had been traded from the Mets in July and into the thick of the AL West race — by no means materialized. Scherzer lasted solely three innings, whereas Verlander overcame a first-pitch homer to Marcus Semien — the one earned run he allowed — for profession win No. 255.
“Look, as a starting pitcher, your job is to carry momentum,” Verlander stated. “Our offense made it pretty easy on us this series. Obviously, when you’re staked to a big lead, you want to eat up innings and keep the team off the board as much as possible, and I was able to do that.”
Alvarez hit a two-run homer off Scherzer within the first inning, Brantley hit a solo homer within the second and Abreu broke it open with a third-inning slam to place Houston forward, 7-1. Abreu added a three-run homer within the ninth and was adopted by Chas McCormick, who got here off the bench and swatted his twentieth homer of the season.
“The guys were ready,” Astros supervisor Dusty Baker stated. “We jumped them early and acquired of their drained bullpen. Boy, what a day for Abreu — seven ribbies and two homers. I’ve seen Scherzer quite a bit higher. He left some pitches up on the zone, some breaking balls, and our guys didn’t miss them. Verlander was superb.
“We’re completely happy about this sweep right here, and now we’ll take a time off and play a troublesome San Diego staff we haven’t seen earlier than.”
From a distance, Abreu has marveled at what the Astros have been in a position to do the final seven years, which is without doubt one of the causes he needed to signal with Houston within the offseason. The season hasn’t gone as easily for him as he’d hoped, however he confirmed Wednesday he can nonetheless contribute along with his bat.
Since coming off the IL (decrease again) on Aug. 23, he’s slashing .256/.333/.581 with 4 homers and 18 RBIs in 11 video games.
“I’ve had some rough moments, but the biggest thing for me is this whole organization has had my back, a lot of the guys here have had my back — even [during] the tough moments and the good ones,” Abreu stated. “You’ve got to try to find the positive things and take those.”
The aim now for the Astros is hold it going at house, the place they’ve struggled to attain runs this yr.
“It’s not quite playoff baseball, but it’s time to bring that energy and focus and see what these guys are capable of when they do that,” Verlander stated.
Content Source: www.mlb.com