The Houston Astros young sluggers brought the bats today. The crushing blow came in the 5th inning when third baseman Matt Dominguez connected on a 0-2 fastball by Braves pitcher Mike Minor for a 3-run homerun. That brought the score to 5-1; George Springer sealed the deal in the 7th inning with a long solo homerun of his own making it 6-1.
Astros' right hander Jarred Cosart made his 16th start of the season and came away victorious bringing his record to 8-5 while holding a 3.60 ERA. After a run in the 1st inning, Cosart was locked into cruise control for the day. Cosart finished the day going 7 innings allowing one run, six hits, and two strike outs. Cosart had his cutter working today forcing 12 of his 21 outs via the groundball.
Atlanta Braves left hander Mike Minor did fare as well then his counterpart on the mound. Minor went 6 innings allowing five runs, seven hits, and striking out five batters. Minor did a good job early limiting damage, allowing only 2 runs in the first four innings. The 5th inning was when everything fell apart. Minor had a runner on second after an Altuve single, and stolen base with two outs. He walked Springer and faced the struggling Matt Dominguez with two outs. Minor was feeling good after getting ahead in the count 0-2 with 2 fastballs that had Dominguez late. Minor got greedy and tripled up with the fastball and Dominguez burned him with 3-run bomb to left field.
It’s been an up and down season for Mike Minor so far. He can’t seem to get on a role and put 3 or 4 good starts in a row which has lead to the subpar numbers for the left hander. Hopefully Minor can figure it out for his next start against the New York Mets where he has a good chance to grab a win even though he has had mixed results in his career against the Metropolitans.
Matt Dominguez and George Springer may have gone yard and driven in the majority of the runs today but the catalyst of this offense is 5’5” second baseman Jose Altuve. Altuve grabbed two more hits to add to his total of 107 hits, which leads MLB. He also swiped two more bases that bring his total to 30, which leads the American League. If Altuve played in a bigger market and on a better team he would be known as the best 2nd baseman in baseball this year.
The Braves may have lost the game today but they came away with a series win. There were also some good signs from an offensive standpoint individually. B.J. Upton recorded a hit in each of the three games while batting leadoff, including a solo homerun Tuesday night. His younger brother Justin Upton had a big series going 4-11 with 2 homeruns and 4 RBIs. If past history has taught us anything, when the Upton brothers are contributing offensively good things happen.
The Braves are headed to the “City of Brotherly Love” to face the Philadelphia Phillies in a four game series including a double header on Saturday. They look to get revenge after the Phillies swept them at their place a week ago. This is a series that can make or break the Braves as we come closer to the All-Star Break.