CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Triston McKenzie jersey night did not go well for the Cleveland Guardians left hander.
McKenzie was touched up for five runs in five innings, highlighted by a two-run homer run by Astros first baseman Jose Abreu, who drove in three, as Houston came away with a 6-4 victory at Progressive Field in front of the largest crowd of the season – 35,087.
Here are our Final 9 from Saturday night.
1. McKenzie didn’t find his groove until the fifth when he struck out the side. His five strikeouts came in his final two innings. He threw 92 pitches, 58 for strikes as he allowed seven hits with three walks and a wild pitch to suffer his first loss of the season. “They were really aggressive early on and the heater was up,” McKenzie said.
2. For the second consecutive game, Houston struck for three in the top of the first thanks to Alex Bregman’s RBI single that scored Jose Altuve, who doubled with one out, and Abreu’s 421-foot two-run blast to the bleachers. “He wasn't really commanding it well enough to kind of get him off his fastball for the most part,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “[That’s a] Pretty veteran lineup and they pay attention.” Abreu added an RBI single in the top of the eighth to extend Houston’s lead to 6-3.
3. The Guardians answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on Josh Naylor’s sac fly to left that scored Amed Rosario. Naylor appeared to slap a single into right on the first pitch of the at-bat, but time was called by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook due to a pitch clock violation on Astros starter J.P. France.
4. Houston added to their lead in the top of the fourth off an RBI double by Jake Myers and RBI single from Mauricio Dubon to extend the visitors’ lead to 5-1.
5. Catcher Mike Zunino had another rough night behind the plate. Houston stole five bases with him behind the plate, two of Zunino’s throws down to second landed in center field and he was charged with a passed ball in the sixth. “I mean it made for a tougher night,” Francona said. “I mean, I think again, like we do, they pay attention to a lot of details and if they see something, they’re going to try to exploit it.” McKenzie tried to take some of the blame for Zunino. “I think it’s the rules a little bit, but I think it was mainly just they’re a good running team,” McKenzie said. “They have a lot of guys that are fast, a lot of guys that run but I think I was just getting into a rhythm. I think they kind of figured me out. I was kind of getting into a timing aspect where I was still trying to find the zone. I was trying to bring my heater down and I wasn’t necessarily as focused on them as they should have been.” The boo birds came out during Zunino’s fourth inning at-bat that saw him strike out and again in the sixth when he hit into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play.
6. Naylor extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-out single to right in the bottom of the third inning. Naylor then pulled the Guardians within 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single and drove home their fourth run with a sacrifice fly to left in the bottom of the ninth to provide the final score.
7. Jose Ramirez ended France’s night with a two-out RBI single to right that saw Steven Swan slide in ahead of the tag of Astros catcher Martin Maldonado to cut Houston’s lead to 5-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. The whole ballpark was chanting “Jose! Jose! Jose! Jose! Jose!” in the ninth before Ramirez flied out to center. “I mean it's a tough way to play,” Francona said. “You’re down three right off the get go, but we fought and we battled and we gave ourselves a chance. You get the tying run to the plate man that you got a chance, especially with who was coming up to hit.”
8. Will Brennan continues to hit. The Guardians right fielder delivered a single in the first and a double to left in the seventh inning to raise his average to .274.
9. Reliever Tim Herrin, called up from Columbus prior to the game, threw the final three innings. He allowed a run on three hits with a walk and strikeout while facing 14 hitters. “He saved our ass is what he did,” Francona said. “I told him that last run was on my ERA because he doesn't need to [be responsible for it]. That was a lot. That was a big ask, but it allows us hopefully to get some semblance of our bullpen back in order.”
