HOUSTON — The New York Mets come into Houston with the best record in the National League to take on the Astros, who have the second-best record in the American League.
This two-game, interleague series will determine so much on both teams to where they stand. The Houston Astros have a crucial nine game stretch against both New York baseball teams who the best records in baseball. With both teams in playoff contention, the stakes are high.
The Astros defeated the Mets 8-2 in the first game of the series. The Mets came into this series with the best hitting percentage in baseball, but in the first were held to only two runs. The Astros bats came alive yesterday, scoring 8 runs on 10 hits.
Today game both teams looked to prove to each other they are the team to beat.
This game was themed Stranger Things, in which a few celebrities were in attendance today, actress Priah Ferguson, who plays Erica Sinclair, and Grant Goodman who plays Freak on the show Stranger Things. Priah got to throw the first pitch and Grant got the game going by saying “Play Ball.”
Astros right-hander pitcher Luis Garcia took the mound today against Mets right hand pitcher Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco is 8-2 on the season, while Garcia is 4-5 and looking to even-up his record on the season.
In the first inning, Garcia would give up two hits to Mets hitters Brandon Nimmio and Francisco Lindor, but he did not give up a run. In the bottom of the first, Astros hitter Jose Altuve started off with a walk to first base, Michael Brantley doubled deep right field to bring Altuve home, and the Astros would lead 1-0. Alex Bregman homered to left field and made the score 3-0 with no outs. The Astros hottest hitter Yordan Alvarez would step up to the plate next and hit his 20th home run of the season, extending the lead 4-0 with still nobody out. Once again, the Astros had back-to-back home runs which is the fifth time this season and second time in the last five games.
The Astros lead 4-0 going into the top of the third, until Mets hitter Dominic Smith doubled to deep center, Tomas Nido would ground out to short stop which advanced Smith to third, and Brandon Nimmo would hit sacrifice fly to right to bring Smith home.
The Astros would respond when Yordan Alvarez bombed his second home run of the game to right field for his 21st on the season. This is his 12th multi-homer game in his first 294 games, tied for the most in MLB history with Gary Sanchez and Ralph Kiner. Carrasco gave up four hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings before being taken out due to an injury.
The Astros were leading the Mets 5-1 in top of the sixth inning until a Mets rally began. Luis Garcia would walk Brando Nimmo to first base, Starling Marte doubled to center field, Nimmo scored making it 5-2, and then Francisco Lindor singles to right field putting Marte at third and Lindor at first with no outs still. Astros skipper Dusty Baker decided it was time pull Garcia out of the game for reliever Ryan Stanek. Mets’ Pete Alonso hit a sacrifice fly to right, bringing in Marte to make it 5-3.
Luis Guillorme doubled to left and Stanek walked Mark Canha to load the bases with one out. Just like in yesterday game, the Mets had a chance to take the lead with the bases loaded. Ryan Stanek would not let that happen. Ryan Stanek did not allow any runs in the sixth inning, which extends his scoreless streak to a MLB-leading 18 innings.
The Mets would leave three men stranded just like they did in yesterday’s game.
Astros relief pitchers Hector Neris and Rafael Montero would come in the next two innings and not give up a run. With the Astros still leading 5-3 top of the ninth, Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly would come in to finish off the Mets having 1-2-3 inning to seal the Astros 5-3 win over the Mets.
The Astros have now won eight straight games against the Mets dating back to April 30th, 2012. This is first time Mets and Astros have met since Hurricane Harvey came through Houston in September 2017. The Houston Astros move to 43-25 on the season, while the New York Mets drop to 45-26.
The Houston Astros are now going to face the team with the best record in baseball, the New York Yankees in the Bronx in a four-game series. The New York Mets rea off tomorrow, but they will travel to Miami to take on the Marlins Friday night.
Written by James Leyva
