Keuchel halts Angels’ 10-game win streak, HOU wins 6-1
W: Keuchel (11-9)
L: Santiago (5-8)
Submitted by Reuben
This Angels team has really snuck up on the league. Well, on me at least, mostly because I haven’t been keeping close tabs on the contending teams. Remember checking the standings, eagerly, anxiously, every day in September? It’s a sensation I haven’t felt in about 6 years now; what the 1st- and 2nd-place teams are doing doesn’t feel so important when the Astros are 27 games back. I bet it’ll feel great, someday, when that feeling returns.
But back to the Angels. They came into Sunday’s game with a 93-55 record. 93 wins already, on September 14th. Which means even if they only split their remaining 14 games, they’d still win 100. They’re virtually guaranteed to finish with the best record in baseball. After their lackluster 2013 (78-84 record), I sure didn’t see that coming.
The Anaheim Nine were also riding a 10-game winning streak, which might not seem like that much, but it’s their longest such streak in 12 years – since their Championship season of 2002. Coincidence? They hope not. Regardless, Dallas Keuchel made damn well sure that their streak didn’t reach 11 games, as he completely shut down the best team in baseball Sunday afternoon. Keuchel didn’t allow a single man to reach base until the 6th, when Ianetta walked on a knee-highish 3-2 pitch, and his no-hit bid lasted until Trout singled with 1 out in the 7th. It was a weak fly ball that Fowler perhaps didn’t get the best jump on, or maybe he just didn’t realize his pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, because I would describe it as something less than an all-out effort to catch the ball.
Were it not for one Gregorio Petit swing, the offense would have squandered 2 golden scoring opportunities in embarrassing fashion. In the 2nd, Marisnick singled and Corporan walked on 4 pitches. Guzman, the next batter, went up 3-0 in the count and things were looking promising, as Santiago, the Angels’ starter, had clearly lost his command. But after taking a borderline pitch for strike 1, Guzman proceeded to watch two more fastballs sail through the heart of the zone. Then Marisnick goofed up badly, getting picked off 2nd base by the pitcher. Luckily, Dominguez managed a walk, bringing up Petit, who swatted a 3-1 fastball deep into the left-field bleachers.
The 3-0 lead was a nice cushion for Keuchel, but didn’t feel insurmountable against the red-hot Californians’ offense, so it was a huge relief when Grossman hit a 2-out single in the 5th to make it 5-0. Marisnick, who had a likely-career-high 3 hits on the day, singled in Fowler in the next inning, apparently pushing the game close enough to blowout territory for Mike Scioscia to remove Trout, Aybar, and Kendrick before the game was over.
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Futility Watch: The solid recent stretch by the Astros has vaulted them all the way into 24th place overall, ahead of the Red Sox, Cubs, and Twins, among others. At 66-83, they have a fair chance at avoiding 90 losses, by going 7-6 to close out the season; a mere 4-9 record would bring them to the 70-win plateau. At the very least, Sunday’s win assures that they will not end the season with another 15-game losing streak like last year.