Houston avoids sweep: Astros win 4-0

After losing three close games to the Mariners, the Astros played a solid overall game to avoid the sweep Thursday afternoon. It all started with an exceptional performance from Spencer Arrighetti.

After a leadoff walk in the first, Spencer looked to be having a rough day, but he was able to settle in and strand the runner at first to start the game with a scoreless inning. Arrighetti struck out Julio Rodriguez with this nasty cutter.

In six innings of work, the rookie allowed just two hits and three walks and struck out eight, while allowing no runs. Hopefully this is a preview of things to come.

Yordan Alavarez got the team’s first hit in the first inning on a rocket line drive to right field. He didn’t score, but it set the tone for the rest of the game.

The Astros got on the board in the top of the fourth with a two-run shot from Alex Bregman, which was all Houston needed.

In the top of the fifth, Victor Caratini led off with a solo home run to right center field to increase the lead to three. It was a wise signing.

Not satisfied with a three-run lead, the Astros put together several quality at-bats to pick up another run in the 6th via an Alex Bregman triple and an RBI groundout from Caratini. The Astro offense made good contact for the remainder of the game, but they did not score again.

The most impressive part of Arrighetti’s departure was his arrival. In the bottom of the 6th, facing the Mariners for the third time in order, Spencer retired JROD, Raleigh and France consecutively to end his day. We’ll talk about this later.

The last few innings have been dicey in recent days, but the bullpen has done its job. Montero, Pressley and Hader combined for three innings pitched, no runs, four Ks and allowed just two baserunners. Montero was helped, however, by this stellar defensive play from Jeremy Pena.

Hader made things a little more interesting than most fans would have liked, allowing two hits in the ninth, but his stuff looked good, and sometimes good hitters will hit good pitches.

Final score: Astros 4, Mariners 0.

Comments:

The Mariners only took three at-bats with runners in scoring position today, and two of them were on ninth down for four runs. This made the game a lot less close than it was.

Spencer Arrighetti was simply exceptional today. His eight strikeouts today are a career high. He generated 14 swings and misses on just 90 pitches, including nine on his cutter. I wasn’t super excited about him at the start of the season, but he seems to be improving. I’m skeptical about him remaining as a starting pitcher; I don’t think he has the command or a good enough fastball. However, I’m happy to be proven wrong, and if he continues to improve like he has, then maybe he will.