Use long ball to avoid sweep in Oakland.
WP: Collin McHugh (16 – 7)
LP: Aaron Brooks (1 – 3)
submitted by Sphinx Drummond
The Astros offense took advantage of four homeruns to power their way to an 11-5 victory over the Oakland A’s Wednesday. Collin McHugh lasted 5.1 innings, he has had better outings though he sailed through the first four innings before giving up 4 runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth inning before leaving the game with one out in the sixth. After Chad Qualls allowed one of MxHugh’s runners to score, he and the relief corps combination of Will Harris, Pat Neshek, and Oliver Perez, stopped the bleeding and shut the door on the A’s offense.
After being shut out on Tuesday the Astros offense came back to life pounding the baseball, scoring at least one run in every inning but the first and third. Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez, Evan Gattis, and Marwin Gonzalez, all homered. After going hit-less in the first two games of the series, Altuve added two in Wednesdays game, he is currently hitting .311.
Coupled with the Rangers being shut out in Seattle, the Astros now have a 2 game lead in the standings, one less loss, three more wins, but we know that the standings are just something to look at as the Astros still have 22 games left to play and so much can happen between now and the end of the season.
Another Thursday off day allows the Astros to take a leisurely trip down the coast to Anaheim where they will face the Angels in a three game weekend series begining Friday night. Dallas Keuchel (17 – 6) will look for his 18th win, his mound opponent will be Jared Weaver (6 – 10) who seems to have mostly good outings against the Astros. The game starts 9:10 pm CST. Also thanks to HH for the excellent PBP in the Gamezone.
Game Time: 3:38
Attendance: 13,387
