HOUSTON, TX – This past week for the Houston Astros Organization could not have gone any better. They make a huge splash in trade deadline acquiring former Cy Young pitcher Zach Greinke along with few other players for future prospects. They took their series against the Cleveland Indians, then followed that up with wins over Seattle 10-2 in the first game, and then Saturday night for 12th time in Houston Astros baseball history they got a no-hitter and defeat the Mariners 9-0. What could they do next? How about break out the brooms with the sweep of the Mariners with a 3-1 win? That’s exactly what they did as they reached their best 113 game record of (73-40) in franchise history.
Astros RHP Justin Verlander started this game against Mariners LHP Tommy Milone. Both teams started out slow and nobody would get a hit in the first three innings. Seattle would finally get a hit in the top of 4th after no hits in 18 straight innings dating back two days, as third baseman Kyle Seager hit a single to shallow left field. In the bottom of the 4th inning, the Astros also joined the party as third baseman Alex Bregman hit a single into left field. Then their DH Yordan Alvarez doubled into right field. This was followed by shortstop Carlos Correa knocked a single to bring Bregman home, giving the Astros a 1-0 lead.
In the 6th inning, the Astros kept the pressure on as Bregman hit a double into left-center field and then moved to third on a wild pitch. DH Yordan Alaverz then hit a foul ball off his knee and looked to be injured. However, he got back up and hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field that brought in Bregman. The Astros led 2-0 until the top of the 7th when Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager hit a home run into right-center field.
That was the end of Verlander’s day, as Astros pitcher Joe Smith came in to finish off the inning with no runs and kept the score at 2-1. Houston responded in the bottom of the 7th as center fielder Jake Marisnick singled into left field, then stole to second, and reach third on a wild pitch by Mariners pitcher Matt Magill. Astros left fielder Josh Reddick then hit a sac-fly into left field, bringing Marisnick in to score, pushing the lead to 3-1.
Astros bullpen pitcher Will Harris would come in to replace Joe Smith in the 8th and have a 1,2,3 inning. Then closer Roberto Osuna came in to finish off the Mariners in the 9th. Justin Verlander finished with 10 strikeouts, eclipsing 200 strikeouts in a season for the 9th time in his career. He gave up just 1 run on 3 hits in six innings. Yordan Alvarez now has 41 RBI’s this season in 41 games, which is tied for 7th most RBI in a player’s first 41 MLB games.
The last time the Astros had 15 or more scoreless innings was in 1981 when HOF pitcher Nolan Ryan got his 5th no-hitter in his career and the Astros held their opponents to 16 straight innings of no hits. The much anticipated first start of Zach Grienke is on the horizon as he will make his Astros debut on Tuesday night in interleague play against the National League’s Colorado Rockies in a two-game series 7:10 pm.
Written by James Leyva
