Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve scores the winning run on Carlos Correa’s single in the 14th inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016, in Houston.
Advertisement
Five Toronto relievers kept the Astros in check until Feldman was summoned to tackle the unusual task of pitching against players he called teammates mere hours earlier.
This was a surprising, but strong, move for GM Ross Atkins. After the Dodgers paid a haul for Rich Hill, the Jays seemed bound to pay a high price for a mid-rotation starter, but found an attractive alternative at a much lower price. This season, he has appeared in just three games, although he was 13-5 despite an inflated 5.57 ERA and 1.48 WHIP a year ago.
Feldman offers little upside, but terrific control keeps him consistently valuable. His other at-bat was a weak grounder.
Guadalupe Chavez is still in rookie ball and is a long way away from the majors.
Almost 100% of baseball people, even the most die hard prospect followers, likely had no idea who Lupe Chavez was before this deal was made.
The left-handed Liriano, 32, is 6-11 with a 5.46 ERA in 21 starts with Pittsburgh this year.
Now a Blue Jay. The Blue Jays essentially did to the Pirates what the Dodgers do to teams all the time: taking on a potentially problematic contract in order to gain a few interesting young pieces. Bolsinger is a soft-tossing right-hander with a solid K/BB ratio, but he will give up his fair share of hard contact. The Astros recalled RHP Joe Musgrove from Triple-A Fresno, where he was 5-3 with a 3.81 ERA in 10 starts. Watching a vintage Filthy Frankie start when he could spot his fastball, and get hitters to hack hopelessly at his slider and change up was such a joy.
The Blue Jays were playing at Houston on Monday night, making Feldman’s move pretty easy. Josh Donaldson leads Toronto with 117 hits, Kevin Pillar has 45 RBI and Edwin Encarnacion has 28 home runs.
The previous game Liriano actually went the distance, but to me, this start was more of what Liriano was all about.
Correa stroked a 14th-inning, walk-off double to the right-center-field gap, scoring Jose Altuve and lifting the Astros to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Minute Maid Park.
The Pirates’ formula to get back to the wild card game had a number of different looks, but none were possible unless Liriano turned his season around. He’s struggled with walks, leading the league with 69, but is coming off of three straight seasons with an ERA 3.38 or under.
The 22 strikeouts by Astros pitchers were the second-most in franchise history, one shy of the record set in 2003 against the Chicago Cubs. Absolutely. I just feel like he’s been an ace this year, he’s pitched in every start and he hasn’t had that many stressful innings.
The Liriano deal is the kind that has had many fans calling Nutting cheap over the years. There is a real chance that he can rebound, but this is a very risky time for this experiment.
McGuire was part of a deal that sent major league pitcher Francisco Liriano and minor league outfielder Harold Ramirez to Toronto for major league pitcher Drew Hutchison. Give me Houston and the low line.
Advertisement
Ramirez, 21, is hitting.306 with two homers and 49 RBIs in 98 contests with Altoona. He’s played a ton of centre field this year, but it’s widely assumed that he will move over to a corner outfield position in the near future.
