HOUSTON — The Astros’ fiftieth win of the season was actually in contrast to any of the earlier 49. They managed only one hit after the primary inning, wanted an incredible escape job from reliever Hector Neris and have been bailed out by catcher Martín Maldonado, who was in an 0-for-21 droop.
Moments after Neris pitched his approach into — and out of — a bases-loaded jam within the eighth, Maldonado slugged a solo homer to left area off reliever Andrés Muñoz to ship the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Mariners on Saturday night time at Minute Maid Park.
“We needed it very badly against them,” Astros supervisor Dusty Baker mentioned. “We were 1-4 [vs. Seattle] going into today and … we wanted to pick up a game or two this weekend. And the fact Texas lost. I didn’t think they had a good chance of losing, but baseball is baseball.”
Three takeaways from the huge win:
Neris escapes bother
The eighth inning couldn’t have began any worse for Neris, who hit Ty France with a pitch and walked Teoscar Hernández and Eugenio Suárez to load the bases with no outs. At that time, the Mariners’ win likelihood peaked at 78.7 %.
“It’s a hard situation and you try to be focused and throw the ball to home plate and execute the pitches and try to get the next three outs,” Neris mentioned.
Neris struck out pinch-hitter Cal Raleigh, bought pinch-hitter Mike Ford to come out and struck out José Caballero seeking to strand all three runners. A fired-up Neris dropped to 1 knee and pounded his chest, a second that Maldonado mentioned modified the momentum of a tied sport.
“It looked bleak for a while there,” Baker mentioned. “But then you get the one out and you say, ‘OK, hopefully a double play and get the second out.’”
Maldonado visited Neris on the mound previous to the ultimate strikeout to verify they have been on the identical web page. Neris threw an 0-2 sinker proper over the center of the plate that froze Caballero.
“I said, ‘OK, I believe you, and here’s the pitch you wanted,’” Neris mentioned.
Said Maldonado: “That guy has done it all year. Nothing surprises me. It surprised me more the walks than [escaping a jam] again. I think that guy deserves to be an All-Star.”
Maldonado delivers
Maldonado stepped to the plate with one out within the eighth inning and crushed a 1-1 slider from Muñoz — Seattle’s finest reliever — for his sixth homer of the 12 months. It was the Astros’ first hit since their two-run first inning — a span of twenty-two plate appearances between hits.
“I think we took some momentum after the Neris inning,” Maldonado mentioned. “The energy in the dugout was a little different. I feel like it was a huge win for us, especially tomorrow with a day game. Every time that Framber [Valdez] is on the mound, we’re expecting a win. That was huge for us.”
Maldonado’s hit was his first within the month of July.
“He had been struggling and [Muñoz] is tough,” Baker mentioned. “He has good stuff over there. I’m just glad we could hold the lead and didn’t have to go any deeper in our bullpen than we did already.”
Valdez lobbies for All-Star begin
Valdez, who was skipped in his earlier begin final weekend with an ankle sprain, allowed two runs and 5 hits in six innings whereas throwing 105 pitches, his thirteenth high quality begin of the season. He will enter the break with a American League-best 2.51 ERA and hopes to start out the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Seattle.
“I think I worked really hard to be able to start the All-Star Game,” he mentioned. “I lead the league in ERA. … It’s something that would mean a lot to me. That being said, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pitch in the All-Star Game. I really want to pitch the first inning. If I don’t get the opportunity to do that, I probably wouldn’t pitch.”
Valdez confirmed no indicators of the ankle harm that hampered him in his earlier two begins.
“He looked real good,” Baker mentioned. “He got his pitch count up higher than we wanted it to, and he wanted it to. Usually, he throws up a couple of double plays that get him out of trouble or limits his pitch count and you get two outs on one pitch. Today I don’t think Framber turned a double play.”
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