SAN FRANCISCO — On the surface, a 3-3 road trip against the Angels and the Giants isn’t a bad outcome for the Astros, but considering the hole they’ve dug themselves in the standings and the fact they let winnable games slip away Sunday and Monday, they left California in no better shape than when they arrived.
The season, which is now 69 games old, is no longer young, and Houston’s eight-game deficit behind first-place Seattle in the American League West seems more daunting by the day. Without injured slugger Kyle Tucker and starting catcher Yainer Diaz, the Astros lost, 5-3, to the Giants on a sunny Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Houston fell to 31-38 and has gone 11-13 since reeling off a season-high six-game winning streak May 12-17.
“I think this is a huge month for us,” said Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games. “We’ve got to get to playing some good baseball. I believe in these guys in here. Every single guy in here is busting their tail every single day. Obviously, we need to be better than we’ve been, and everyone in here knows that and is working towards that.”
The injuries to Tucker, who’s been dealing with a bruised shin since last week, and Diaz, who could return Friday from a swollen right index finger, have handcuffed the Astros’ offense. That proved to be problematic against Giants ace Logan Webb, who gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.
“Obviously, he’s had a ton of success in his career at getting guys on the ground,” Bregman said. “He has a sinker and changeup combo that when both pitches come out of the same slot, they look the same out of hand. Really good deception on it. He added eight or 10 more inches of sweep on his sweeper this year, and it’s a tough pitch to square up as well. I think he kept us off balance and we just weren’t able to do enough off of him.”
Webb (60.2 percent) and Astros starter Framber Valdez (63.8 percent) were 1-2 in groundball percentage coming into the game, but Valdez couldn’t get the Giants on the ground very much at all. Austin Slater’s two-run single in the fourth inning highlighted a three-run frame for San Francisco.
“Stuff was good,” Houston manager Joe Espada said of Valdez. “It was just staying up in the zone a bit. Any time you see opponents hitting the ball in the air with ease, you kind of know that he’s not missing down in the zone. Not his best day.”
Valdez, who was coming off a complete game in Anaheim last Friday, threw a season-low 59 pitches (37 strikes) in four innings as Espada opted for his bullpen to cover the final four innings. Seth Martinez and Shawn Dubin each threw a pair of scoreless frames.
“It’s definitely a little uncomfortable, a little difficult there when you try to get a pitch down in the zone and it’s not doing what you ask it to do,” Valdez said. “Obviously, it’s something that annoyed me a little bit, but I tried to do my best out there. My best today was only throwin
Yordan Alvarez continued his torrid June by going 2-for-4 with a double and a homer — both of which were hit more than 400 feet, according to Statcast. He’s hitting .395 in June with a 1.376 OPS, which is the second best among qualified batters in that span behind Aaron Judge (1.850).
“The two pitches — the double and the home run — I threw both of those pitches exactly where I wanted to throw them,” Webb said. “I feel like the type of hitter that he is, you’ve just got to tip your cap. That’s the first time I’ve seen a changeup underneath go out the other way. You’re kind of in awe as it happens. When he first hit it, I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ And then it just kept kind of going. But I guess you tip your cap. He’s one of the best pure hitters in baseball.”
For all the damage done by Alvarez and Bregman’s resurgence at the plate, the Astros’ offense isn’t whole without Tucker and Diaz. The club hopes it can get both of them back this weekend and then perhaps start to make the kind of run it desperately needs.
“I believe in this group of players,” Espada said. “They’re all capable of hitting, and we need everyone to hit to contribute and I believe that they’re going to.”
