their 3-1 loss Friday night<\/a> still with a three-game lead in the American League West because of the Rangers losing in Arizona. Fourteen games remain on their schedule, including two more against the Rays, three against an Atlanta team with the National League\u2019s second-best record and two against the struggling Mariners, who have vexed them.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s urgency,\u201d manager Joe Espada said before Friday\u2019s game. \u201cThere\u2019s a level of confidence but also humility. \u2026 We\u2019re playing some good teams. We\u2019re competing against a league that everyone is bunched up. Everybody wants it really bad. We want it really bad also.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a largely uninspiring American League, the Astros lead a division that hosts no other team above .500 with a 75-73 record. A mark of 29-21 against teams currently above or at .500 is their saving grace and, perhaps, rationale for a possible playoff run. Recent series wins against the AL Central-leading White Sox, Yankees and Phillies\u00a0\u2014 the latter two on the road\u00a0\u2014 reinforced the idea.<\/p>\n
If a meeting with the owners of the AL\u2019s best record is another barometer, the opener perhaps distilled their current state. The Astros pitched gamely with a cast of mostly supporting arms. Their offense was subdued for most of the night. The result was their 77th game decided by one or two runs. They played the Rays closely until Caminero\u2019s blast.<\/p>\n
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Though they scored 15 runs in a just-finished three-game series in Philadelphia, an inconsistent offense is perhaps the Astros\u2019 leading current issue. They\u2019re averaging 3.9 runs per game since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, entering Friday with the fifth-fewest runs scored in the majors in that stretch. Friday was the 20th time in those 35 games they have scored three runs or fewer.<\/p>\n
This one occurred without Yordan Alvarez, who turned his ankle running the bases Thursday, and whose absence alters the entire complexion of Houston\u2019s lineup. It did total nine hits Friday, with all starters save Christian Walker recording at least one. Eight of those were singles, however, and the Astros went 2-for-6 with men in scoring position, with neither hit driving in a run.<\/p>\n
One was a fifth-inning bunt single by Jose Altuve with a runner on second base and two outs. It moved a runner already in scoring position to third and essentially shifted the onus for driving him in to Jeremy Pe\u00f1a, who is navigating a prolonged funk. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen struck Pe\u00f1a out looking at a 1-2 sinker. It was the Astros\u2019 final at-bat with a runner in scoring position on the night.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a, the Astros\u2019 leadoff man and sparkplug when going right, is hitting .176 with a 31.9% strikeout rate since the trade deadline. He had an 18.6% strikeout rate this season before that. Pe\u00f1a and Espada have both attributed the increase to pitch selection, with Pe\u00f1a saying on the last homestand he has \u201ckind of gotten away from my approach a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The reliance of Houston\u2019s offense on Pe\u00f1a and Alvarez, who still leads the majors in OPS but has a .765 mark since the trade deadline, has been cast in sharp relief in that stretch, even with Isaac Paredes still producing at an above-average level. Paredes doubled for the Astros\u2019 lone extra-base hit Friday, scoring on a fielder\u2019s choice grounder.<\/p>\n
Sporadic offense lowers the margin for error for a pitching staff that still has the majors\u2019 seventh-highest ERA but has performed better of late. Astros pitchers have a 3.04 ERA over their last 15 games, and their starters a 2.70 ERA in that stretch.<\/p>\n
That includes Miguel Ullola\u2019s one inning as an opener Friday. Rather than start rookie Ethan Pecko, who was on turn, the Astros delayed his entry until the third inning, preferring to let Ullola face Yandy D\u00edaz and Camerino in their first at-bats and have left-hander Bryan King navigate a run of five consecutive left-handed hitters in the middle of Tampa Bay\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n
It worked ideally. Ullola, in his sixth major-league outing, pitched a clean first. King, who has struggled since July, retired his first four batters before a single ended his night. Pecko covered the next 5\u2154 innings, the longest of the right-hander\u2019s five major-league outings, while allowing one run on a solo homer by Rays right fielder Victor Mesa Jr.<\/p>\n
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Given the Astros continue to pitch Pecko in meaningful games in a playoff race, it was encouraging. The Rays entered with the majors\u2019 second-best OPS against right-handed pitching this season. Mesa\u2019s home run was the only hit against Pecko, who faced 19 batters. Pecko used his cutter liberally against the Rays\u2019 left-handed hitters, generated weak contact and issued just two walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a lot of that in the minor leagues where he used his fastball very effectively up in the zone and the cutter got in there to some of those left-handed hitters,\u201d Espada said. \u201cBut for me it was the strike-throwing, it was on. He used his stuff really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
What role Pecko will play the next two weeks is uncertain. But using their two least experienced active pitchers, the Astros kept Tampa Bay in check for eight innings. Bryan Abreu warmed before the eighth, but Pecko returned to face the bottom of the Rays order. Josh Hader warmed before the ninth, but as it went to the bottom of the inning still tied, Abreu entered the game.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Aranda\u2019s one-out double presented the Astros with an apparent decision. Caminero is the AL home run leader. First base sat open. Abreu entered with a 1.00 ERA and no home runs allowed since the All-Star break, yet had the Astros put Caminero on first base and taken its chances with the ensuing left-handed hitters, his run would have meant nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Espada said when asked if walking Caminero was a consideration. \u201cNot with Abreu, his stuff, the way he\u2019s been throwing the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Caminero needed one pitch to propel his club into the postseason. The Rangers\u2019 loss offered Houston a reprieve, as the walk-off did not cause its division lead to dwindle.<\/p>\n
It did offer a reminder, though, that the Astros\u2019 position is far from secure. And of the fearsome presence missing from their own lineup Friday. Caminero\u2019s home run was his 40th of the season, putting him two ahead of Alvarez, who retains a realistic shot at a Triple Crown. Espada was unsure postgame if Alvarez, who missed just the third of 148 games this year, would play Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to go check up on him now,\u201d Espada said. \u201cHopefully he\u2019s ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero celebrates his two-run home run off Houston Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu with Victor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-433659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}