The Pick Heard 'round the World

6/13 Game #69 postgame writeup

The Astros won by the score of 4-3 today, and they ended it in exciting fashion. It's not a Jose Veras save situation until he walks a man, and he did just that on Saturday to start the ninth. He proceeded by striking out the next two men with a 96 mph heater, and a filthy nasty slider that's illegal in most states and provinces. With two outs in the ninth, and Jordan Danks leading off second, Jose Veras spin moved a pick-off to second base and nailed Danks for the final out of the ball game.


Offensively:

The 'Stros strung together 4 runs on 6 hits today. Jason Castro and cHRis Carter each hit solo Hr's, and Brandon Barnes as well as Ronny Cedeno chipped in with RBI doubles. It was nice to see Cedeno continue his success against left handed pitching, and to see Chris Carter get ahold of one and send it into orbit. Carter is the first Astro since 2008 to have 14 homeruns buy 6/15. Jason Castro continues his fine campaign, establishing himself as one of the premier catchers in the league.

Pitching & Defense: 
Lucas Harrell earned the win today spinning 6.2 solid innings of work, striking out a season high 7, allowing 7 hits, 3 earned runs, and only 1 walk. Other than an error belonging to Trevor Crowe, the defense was solid. Matt Dominguez made his daily standard sparkling play, and Jose Altuve made a very clutch diving stop later in the game on a single up the middle that would've allowed the tying run to score had the ball gotten through the infield. Harrell moves to 5-7 on the year.

The Astros move to 25-44 on the year, and are 15-14 since starting the year 10-30.

Tomorrows preview: Southpaw Dallas Keuchel (3-3, 4.37) and the Astros take on Hector Santiago (2-4, 3.12) and the pale sox in game 3 of the series. Start time 1:10 PM central. Go 'Stros!