Following Friday nights home opening 3-2 victory over the A's, Carlos Correa said he was feeling healthy, seeing the ball better and felt "dangerous".
That "dangerous" feeling is certainly a welcome sentiment, after an injury plagued season last year caused Correa to miss 52 games with a back injury. Saturday evening at Minute Maid Park, he again flashed the leather in field, with strong, accurate throws to first, backing up a stingy Wade Miley, who was making his Astros home debut for his new ball club.
It was Miley and the power that returned to the Astros bats that looked dangerous Saturday evening, as the Astros improved to 4-5 on the season after a 6-0 victory over the Oakland A's.
Miley threw 95 pitches on the night, only 56 of them for strikes, but was effective enough to keep Oakland's hitters out of sync with a good mix between his cutter, curve and change up. Not having to labor too much on the evening, Miley did have to escape a little trouble in the top of the 4th with runners on first and second and two outs. Miley got A's leftfielder Mark Cahna to ground out to third baseman Alex Bregman for the final out of the inning.
Astro bats looked much more lively Saturday evening against A's pitcher Aaron Brooks, who was making just his second career start at Minute Maid.
George Springer, Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve had hit some balls hard early in the game, but they didn't find grass or in the case of a hard hit liner by Alex Bregman in the 3rd, a wall. Former Astros prospect Ramon Laureano robbed Bregman of at least single, jumping into the scoreboard wall beneath the Crawford Boxes in the third, which had been the hardest hit ball of the night until Springer got a hold of one in the fifth inning.
Springer sent an Aaron Brooks fastball into the Crawford Boxes for a 2-run homer that also plated Jake Marisnick who led of the frame with a five-pitch walk. A few batters later, one of the newest Astros, Michael Brantley, drove one 396 feet, into the right field upper deck which also scored Alex Bregman, who had reached on an infield single.
Coming into Saturday night's game, the Astros had hit 7 homers on the season in their first eight games, six of which had been solo shots, only one of them had come with runners on base (Springer 3-run HR in season opener vs Tampa Bay).
Miley was pulled after five and two-thirds innings, as he had runners on first and second with two outs, but Kendrys Morales at the plate. Morales, entering play Saturday was a .391 hitter against Miley for his career, including 9 hits in 25 plate appearances.
Hinch opted for releiver Will Harris, who got Morales swinging on a 2-2 curveball to end the inning.
Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos hit his first home run on the season in the sixth inning, which gave them a 6-0 lead.
