July 15, 2016
Astros 7, Mariners 3
W – Fister (9-6)
L – Paxton (2-4)
I’d like to think that most of the bad puns we come up with around here are not nearly as bad as the title of this recap, which was originally the link to MLB’s official recap from the Astros.com front page. Some flunky in a cubicle somewhere at MLB Advanced Media was really reaching on this one. I mean, there are logistical concerns here. If the Mariners were CC’ed, who was the e-mail sent to? The AL West? The AL at large? If this pun were an airplane I wouldn’t get on it.
Springer led off the game with an opposite field bomb to give Doug Fister an early lead, and from there they pretty much just played pile-on. Sure, the Mariners got three runs off Fister in the 5th inning, but the Astros were already up 6-0 (thanks to a five-run top of the 5th) at that point. It also wasn’t a particularly good day for the guys behind the plate, with three runners (two of them Astros) scoring on wild pitches. One of them, a Paxton offering to Gomez in the 5th, caromed off Chris Iannetta and dribbed about 75 feet away at the dugout, allowing Correa to score from second without a throw. Correa had plated two runs on a double to left center that narrowly missed leaving the yard.
Fister worked five innings for the win, and Feliz, Giles, Gregerson, and Devenski all contributed scoreless innings in relief. Can’t ask for a much better start to the second half, especially with the Rangers getting blanked in Chitown.