On Wednesday night in Houston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros closed a two-game series that featured fireworks in Game 1 on Tuesday night. Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly received an eight game suspension (pending appeal) for deliberately pitching Carlos Correa and other Astros players. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was also suspended one game.
The series finale was largely drama-free on Wednesday. No recoil throws, no balls, no bank cleaning incidents. Rather, we were invited to a pitcher duel with two beginners at Cristian Javier and Dustin May. The game went to additional 1-1 draw innings and the new tiebreaker rule was needed to declare a winner.
In the 13th inning, Dodgers reserve Edwin Rios led his club with a two-run homer. That happened after the two teams ran out of scores in the tenth, scored one run each in the eleventh, and returned unrated in 12. Los Angeles held on to win the game 4-2 (box score).
Wednesday’s game was the sixth extra inning game of the young season and the first to exceed 11 innings. Since the tiebreaker rule was adopted, when a running back starts the inning at second base, in 2018, only seven percent of minor league extra-inning games extended beyond the eleventh inning. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen occasionally.
The two-game series in Houston is over and any bad blood left from Tuesday’s incident will have to wait until the Astros visit Los Angeles for a two-game series from September 12-13. Here are three conclusions from Wednesday’s game.
Javier is excellent in the first start of MLB
The Astros lost ace Justin Verlander to a forearm injury over the weekend and his season may have ended. For now, Verlander will be closed for a few weeks, then reevaluated. Entering his vacant rotation spot was rookie Cristian Javier, who MLB.com ranks as Houston’s No. 6 prospect. His scouting report says that “his deception and creativity could make him the No. 4 starter.”
Javier was much better than a No. 4 starter on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old maintained the Dodgers’ powerful lineup in one career in 5 2/3 innings. He only allowed two hits and struck out eight.
Astros manager Dusty Baker pushed Javier, threw 82 pitches, and his speed dropped to the 90-91 mph range in the sixth inning after sitting 94-95 mph in the first innings, and he was rewarded with a strong start. . Javier pitched a scoreless inning in relief in his MLB debut on Saturday. Wednesday was his first start in MLB and only his third start over Double-A.
The Astros have been difficult throwing injuries earlier this season, so much so that they’re ready to sign 43-year-old Fernando Rodney from an independent league to help the bullpen. Javier presumably did more than enough to win another outing on Wednesday night. José Urquidy is still far from joining the team. I could also keep running Javier in the meantime.
Seager biting the ball from the start
On his return from Tommy John surgery last season, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager authored a .272 / .335 / .483 batting line that is very good and comfortably below the .302 / .370 / .497 that he achieved when he was healthy from 2016 -17. That first year after Tommy John’s surgery can be difficult, even for position players.
Few players in baseball have been cooler than Seager earlier this season. He went 7-for-20 (.350) with just one strikeout in his first five games and was hitting hard. His average muzzle velocity of 96.8 mph placed him in the top five percent of the league. Plus, oddly enough, Seager averaged just 2.83 pitches per plate appearance, the third in baseball.
On Wednesday, Seager continued his steamy start with a second solo homer in the inning against Javier. To the action video:
It seems like Seager has been around forever, anyway, to me, but it turned 26 in April. You are about to find out what seems to be the best moment of your career. The Dodgers are absolutely loaded, especially offensively, and getting the best possible version of Seager this year would make them even more formidable in the postseason.
Betts comes out of depression
Several stellar league players have started the season slowly. Happens. The season is young and they will discover it in no time. A handful of those players were on the field at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night. This is what they were doing when entering the contest:
- Mookie Betts, Dodgers: 5 times 24 (.208)
- Jose Altuve, Astros: 4 to 18 (.222)
- Alex Bregman, Astros: 4 to 18 (.222)
Also, George Springer (1 for 20) was on the bench Wednesday night because Baker wanted to give him a “clear day,” according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The absolute numbers tell us that some big name players will start slowly each year and this season is no different.
The early season slump continued for the Astros. Altuve and Bregman were both 0-for-5, dropping them to 8-for-46 (.174) in the combined season. Each of them failed to drive in the winning race at 12 (to be fair, Altuve walked). The depression will not continue, they are too talented, but that does not make them less frustrating to sit down as fans of the Astros.
Betts, meanwhile, stepped out of his early season skating on Wednesday. He was hitless in his first four at-bats before punching a lead double to left field in the eleventh inning. The bullpen couldn’t keep that edge, but that’s not Mookie’s fault.
Betts started last season in a 5-for-23 drift (.217) and started his MVP season in 2018 in a 2-for-11 (.182) routine. This is not the first time that he has had a difficult week to start a new season and I doubt it will be the last. If his 11th double inning is an indication, Betts is ready to start putting his typically big numbers for the Dodgers.
