What a perfect night for the Houston Astros yesterday. We saw why Dallas Keuchel is considered one of the faces of the organization and the ace of the rotation. He battle side to side with last year AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber who also had a really nice outing.
Kluber had a no-hitter until the sixth inning and Jose Altuve’s bat broke that with a single to center field with 2 outs on the board (Altuve breaks up no-hitter). He then showed off his speed stealing second and putting himself in position to score with George Springer at bat. Springer hit a line drive single to left field bringing Altuve home for the first run of the game (Springer’s RBI single). This gave Keuchel all the run support he needed to win.
Keuchel was shutting down every batter he faced and late in the game he also showed why he won the AL Gold Glove Pitcher award. He got in some trouble in the seventh inning with a single from Carlos Santana and an infield hit from Yan Gomes. Luis Valbuena made an outstanding catch stopping what it could have been an extra base hit from Yan Gomes (Valbuena’s diving play). After the coach made a visit to the mound he had total confidence that Keuchel could get himself out of this situation, and he did just that. Dallas came back and strike out the next batter and produce two successive soft ground balls to end the inning.
The Astros got one more run on board and the bullpen took over to end the game. Tony Sipp threw a perfect eight striking out two batters and Luke Gregerson threw a perfect ninth to earn his first save as an Astros player.
Lets hope the Astros keep the momentum going for next game where the right-hander Scott Feldman is set to start versus Cleveland Indians Carlos Carrasco on April 8th.
Talking Astros 