Huge Series: Indians @ Astros - Game 2
If game 1 was the epic pitcher's dual we thought we'd see in game 2...we were wrong!
While Justin Verlander and Trevor Bauer are certainly two of the best in the business at getting batters out and keeping runs off the board, Saturday night's contest wasn't a normal game by those standards.
The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning and added another run via a solo home run in the top of the 3rd to give The Tribe a 3-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 3rd for Bauer.
Bauer walked Astros catcher Yasmani Grandal to start the 3rd, then gave up a base hit to George Springer to advanced Grandal to second base and put the first two Astros batters on base. Bauer's twitter rival, Alex Bregman, singled off Bauer to score Grandal and advance Springer to 3rd base and cut the Tribe lead to 3-1. Next up was the dangerous Yordan Alvarez coming to the plate with two runners on and no outs. Alvarez destroyed a 1-0 pitch to the second deck in the right field bleachers to give the Astros a 4-3 lead. Carlos Correa followed with a single. After striking out Michael Brantley to record the first out of the 3rd inning, Bauer gave up back to back singles to Altuve and Tucker - scoring Correa and adding to the Astros lead 5-3.
Verlander gave up another solo home run in the top of the 4th as the Indians cut into the lead and now trailed 5-4. Bauer was pulled with 2 outs in the 4th after giving up another base hit to Alex Bregman. Bregman, in his not-so-subtle cockiness waved at Bauer as he left the mound walking back to the Indians dugout. Their twitter rival continues...
Michael Brantley tagged a 2 run home run in the bottom of the 5th off of Indians reliever Nick Wittgren, increasing the Astros lead to 7-4. Justin Verlander lasted into the top of the 6th but was pulled after 5 & 2/3 an 109 pitches. Right handed flamethrower Durbin Feltman came in to strike out Jose Ramirez to finish the top of the 6th inning.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Astros got the first two runners on before a balk was called on left handed reliever Oliver Perez to advance runners to 2nd and 3rd with no outs. After back to back strikeouts by Bregman and Alvarez, Carlos Correa delivered a 2 run double to right-center, increasing the Astros lead to 9-4. Michalel Brantley followed with a single, moving Correa to third. Jose Altuve followed with another single, scoring Correa and moving Brantley to third. Astros lead stood at 10-4. Kyle Tucker then delivered a double to left-center field, scoring Brantley and moving Altuve to third. The Astros led 11-4 heading to the 7th.
Feltman made quick work of the Indians in the top of the 7th, striking out 2 batters. Brendan McCurry started the top of the 8th for the Astros and recorded 2 outs before giving up 2 runs on a solo home run and an RBI single. Lefty Travis Bergen was brought in to face Scotter Gennett to close out the 8th with two runners on 2nd and 3rd. Gennett struck out swinging. It was 11-6 Astros heading to the bottom of the 8th.
Nothing for the Astros in the 8th. Bergen struck out the first batter of the 9th before giving way to reliever Reyes Moronta to (hopefully) finish the game off cleanly. It was anything but. Moronta gave up a base hit, then a wild pitch scored the inherited runner (charged to Bergen). But eventually he got Wilmer Flores to ground out to end the game.
Astros win game 2 of the series 11-7! The Indians had 14 hits and Astros had 16 hits. So much for a pitcher's dual.
