But midway through the season, the rebuilding Astros had the most victories in the American League (47) heading into this weekend’s series at Boston.
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Boston won its three-game series over the Astros with a 5-4 victory here at Fenway Park on Sunday.
“There was a full moon”.
“He pounded the strike zone with a couple different pitches”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch admitted the attempt was “a surprise” to him and everyone else.
Houston’s Jose Altuve extended his hitting streak to 13 games. After being sacrificed to third by Victorino, Sandoval then reached home on a critical two-out RBI single by Hanigan, this one pieced to right field yet again.
Boston was aided by errors on consecutive plays in taking a 3-1 edge against Will Harris. Clay Buchholz tossed a complete game, showcasing his recent dominant form in impressive fashion.
Buchholz is 2-0 with a 1.52 ERA in three career starts against Houston.
“I don’t know how frequently we would see this going forward”, Farrell said.
In the 9th, Koji had to work around a leadoff error by Brock Holt on a ball through his legs at second.
Ortiz has been platooned at first when the Red Sox face right-handers in interleague games.
Manager John Farrell had no choice but to call on the rookie since Junichi Tazawa was unavailable.
Roberto Hernandez (3-5) pitched a flawless inning, and Luke Gregerson got the final three outs. McCullers, who came in having struck out 58 batters in his first nine starts, only notched three in five innings, giving up a career-high seven hits but holding the Sox to just one run on Ryan Hanigan’s RBI single in the second.
If the Red Sox do no worse than 5-3, they will enter the break at 42-47, a record that will probably keep them within seven games of the AL East leading team. After shortstop Xander Bogaerts struck out to begin the bottom half of the inning, first baseman David Ortiz worked a valuable walk, and Ramirez responded to the echoes of “Hanley!”
When the Astros allow at least one home run, they are 18-24. Sandoval singled to center, H.Ramirez to second. Rodriguez (LHP) will be on the hill against the Astros, who have a 17-16 record against left-handed starting pitchers.
Springer was injured when he was hit on the wrist by a 95 miles per hour fastball thrown by Edinson Volquez in Houston’s win over Kansas City on Wednesday night. “Some guys have to step up with George’s absence”, Correa said after the game.
Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia, on the 15-day DL with a strained right hamstring, hit in the cage after increasing his running a day earlier.
Because of this, excellence deserves to be recognized – today on that type of basis continuously, we will honor an individual player that made the most impact in helping the team, despite whether it resulted in a win or a loss. Third baseman Luis Valbuena walked to lead off the inning and was transferred to second on a one-out single by Gonzalaz. “Today was just an outstanding offensive approach from the first pitch right through the last pitch thrown by them”. 333 with four homers in six games, so it’s a role he seems comfortable in.
Meanwhile, the Astros’ pitching staff is led by two of the game’s top young starters – Dallas Kuechel and 21-year-old rookie Lance McCullers. He’s won each of his last five decisions.
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The Houston Astros recalled Dan Straily, Friday night’s starting pitcher, from Triple-A Fresno for their game against the Boston Red Sox.
