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| George Springer drew a pair of walks and was the only Blue Jay to reach base in a 10-0 no-hit shutout to the Astros |
After wrapping up the season opening series in Tampa Bay with a respectable series split, the Blue Jays moved onto Houston to take on the Astros as they continued their 10 game road trip to start the season. The Astros will be a hungry team after gettig swept at home to the surging Yankees. The Blue Jays won the season series last yea 4-2, but the Astros outscored the Blue Jays 35-22. Bowden Francis got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plat. Bo Bichette is still dealing with a stiff neck and was out of the lineup with Ernie Clement at SS. George Springer was back in the field after a half day off as DH yesterday (Justin Turner served as DH tonight). Kevin Kiermaier was in CF and Daulton Varsho was in LF. Cavan Biggio got the start at 2B. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was at the hot corner. Could the Blue Jays get their first multi-game win streak of the season? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the 1st as Kyle Tucker hammered a two-run bomb to the opposite field in left-center; also scoring Jose Altuve
- Two batters later, Yainer Diaz annihilted a solo bomb to left-center
- The Astros added a run in the bottom of the 2nd as Jeremy Pena hammered a solo bomb to left-center
- The Astros added a run in the bottom of the 4th as Jake Meyers singled scoring Chas McCormick
- The Astros added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th as Pena singled scoring Jose Abreu and McCormick
- Bowden Francis pitching line: 5.1IP 10H 7R (all earned) 1BB 7K 79 pitches (71 for strikes)
- The Astros added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th as Tucker smashed a 2-run blast to right-center and into the Astros bullpen; also scoring Yordan Alvarez
- Two batters later, Diaz smacked a solo blast to the opposite field in right\
- Ronel Blanco pitching line: 9IP 0H 0R 2BB 7K 105 pitches (73 for strikes)
- Final score: Astros 10 Blue Jays 0
My Take:
- In a word, yikes. Bowden Francis was making his first career start and was behind 4-0 after 2 innings and had been taken yard 3 times. Bowden's pitches were missing and the Astros batters were not. To me, this opens the door for Alek Manoah to potentially get his job in the rotation back, but he'll have to earn it. Could Rickey Tiederman get a look if Francis proves he's not a starter?
- The bullpen gave up a further three runs, with the Astros taking Genesis Cabrera deep twice in the 7th inning
- The offence? Literally 2 walks to George Springer, 26 batters (all outs) and 8.2 innings apart. He never made it past 1st base. He probably could have gotten to 2nd base in the 9th inning, but likely didn't want to risk being the 27th out.
- Up next, a battle of the aces with Jose Berrios pitching against Astros lefty Framber Valdez
