Garcia dominant as Astros shut out ‘the best team right now’
ST. PETERSBURG — Luis Garcia didn’t know what number of cutters he threw in his begin on Tuesday night time till he obtained again to the guests’ clubhouse at Tropicana Field following the Astros’ 5-0 victory over the Rays.
The ultimate tally: 97 pitches, 45 cutters
“Oh my God, that’s a lot,” a shocked Garcia exclaimed.
“But I think it works,” he added.
Everything labored like a appeal for Garcia, who constructed upon his spectacular outing in opposition to Toronto final Wednesday with one thing even higher: shutting down the most effective workforce within the Major Leagues over six dominant innings.
“Yeah, that was really a good outing, because they are the best team right now in the league,” Garcia stated of the Rays. “I’m just happy to win.”
Garcia and catcher Martín Maldonado stated they didn’t have a particular plan to beat the workforce that leads the large leagues in runs scored, OPS and myriad different offensive classes. They didn’t want one; Garcia’s power — that cutter — may very well be used to use a weak point.
The Rays, for all of their success on the plate, entered Tuesday’s sport ranked within the backside 5 in MLB in OPS, wOBA and strikeout charge vs. cutters. That historical past held true as Garcia restricted Tampa Bay to only two hits in 10 at-bats that ended on his prime pitch. Those included three strikeouts and a handful of weak outs.
Garcia gave up solely two hard-hit balls and three hits, struck out seven batters and permitted only one baserunner to advance previous second base over his six innings.
“Garcia was great, especially against a hot team and a very good offensive team,” supervisor Dusty Baker stated. “… He had command of every pitch. He was very good. We needed it.”
After starting the season with three comparatively tough begins, Garcia has thrown 13 scoreless innings over his previous two turns. That stretch contains solely 5 hits allowed, three walks and 16 strikeouts.
“I felt good in both of them,” Garcia stated. “I’m just going to keep trying to do my job.”
The Astros’ lineup would finally assist its starter, erupting for 5 runs within the fifth inning, which included 4 doubles off Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. Entering that body, Rasmussen had allowed three extra-base hits in 26 1/3 innings this season. It was additionally essentially the most runs allowed by Tampa Bay in any inning this season.
Jeremy Peña, José Abreu and Corey Julks every had a run-scoring double within the inning, whereas Kyle Tucker and Jake Meyers added RBI singles.
Three balls got here off of Peña’s bat at an exit velocity of greater than 100 mph Tuesday, one night time after he blasted a 432-foot homer at 107.6 mph.
“He’s not missing pitches he’s supposed to hit,” Baker stated of his second-year shortstop. “He hit the ball very hard tonight. It’s great to see, because he puts in the time and the work. It was great to see him get some rewards.”
The first double in that fifth inning got here from second baseman Mauricio Dubón, extending his hitting streak to an MLB-best 19 video games. With successful Wednesday, Dubón would personal the Astros’ longest hitting streak since Hunter Pence’s 23-game streak in 2011.
What’s the key to his success?
“Close my eyes and pray,” Dubón joked. “And it’s been working.”
A win within the collection finale would give the Astros a 7-2 report on this three-series stretch in opposition to among the most proficient groups within the large leagues — the Blue Jays, Braves and Rays. But for now, Houston will savor the primary victory by any opponent inside Tropicana Field in 2023.
“You want to be the party-pooper,” Dubón stated.
