Houston Astros Fall To Twins Again, Searching for Answers Following Tough Start
Yordan Alvarez ripped his third career grand slam.
But there were far too many strikeouts throughout to help the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
They lost.
Again.
This time, 9-6, on Saturday to the Minnesota Twins.
The Astros struck out an unfathomable 17 times for a dubious franchise record of 33 in the past two games.
Houston is 3-6. That’s not a misprint. The team that won 106 games last season is struggling badly.
“It’s very shocking,” manager Dusty Baker told reporters. “We’ve got to get on those breaking balls and swing at the strikes. They get strike one basically with the breaking ball, and they’re expanding the zone after that. They’re pitching us tough. They got everything they needed. They need a couple of three-run homers, they got some two-out RBIs, singles, and between (Kyle) Farmer and (Christian) Vázquez, they were getting some clutch hits against us (5-for-9 with runners in scoring position).”
Outside of Alvarez, the potent Astros lineup has not been producing.
“What can we say about that man?” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “Yordan Alvarez is one of the best hitters in the game right now, and we feel like we can always count on him. One player doesn’t win ball games. We’ve got to keep following behind him.”
The Astros will hit. Look at their lineup. It’s almost impossible to believe that they won’t win 90-plus games this season.
They’re just not doing enough to win right now.
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