KANSAS CITY – The significance of Thursday afternoon’s victory was not lost on the field of Astros rookie Chas McCormick, who acknowledged that his team was just a few innings away from what would have been a devastating four-match clash at the hands of the last Royals.
Losing three of four against Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium (another loss in the series for a team that is offside) is certainly not ideal for a Houston club with championship hopes, but it is to win the final, 6-3, in 10 innings allowed the Astros to stay 2 1/2 games ahead of the A’s placed in the American West League standings and changed the club’s mood.
“That was great,” said McCormick, who drove in three races. “It’s another game, but we really had to win this game today and avoid the sweep and get some momentum to get some energy. Again, the Royals played very well. But today, we really needed him to come home. And it was good that we got the victory. “
That was literally music to the ears of coach Dusty Baker, who got his 100th win of the regular season with Houston.
“It’s great to hear the guys at the house partying and making the music grow,” the pattern said. “It simply came to our notice then. It seems to have been forever. The way this game started, it didn’t look like we were going to attack. Boy, it was very important to win, especially the fact that the As won [5-4 over the White Sox] at the same time.”
The Astros, who entered the day as the best Major League 45-29 against teams of 500 or more and only 25-21 against losing teams, threw themselves into four games. The A’s also got a streak of four losing games, maintaining the status quo at the top of the division for the fifth day in a row.
If there is any doubt about the descent of the AL West race, it will probably diminish every day. The A’s suffered a hard setback when ace Chris Bassitt was hit by a driving line on Tuesday, but the Astros have been without third baseman Alex Bregman for more than two months and right fielder Kyle Tucker he missed his sixth game Thursday. Starting pitcher José Urquidy is out in June.
A and Astros will face each other six times in the last nine games of the regular season. Houston still has a more favorable schedule, but that means little to a club devastated by the Orioles, Tigers, Rangers and Rockies (two games) and who have lost three of four against the Twins and Royals.
“We have a way to go,” Baker said. “I haven’t played our best ball yet. I hope Breggy recovers soon. Slowly but surely, we are trying to achieve integrity. We are missing some keys to our team and people want to know what’s going on. What often happens is that you miss your key guy. No one comforts you and you don’t want to use it as an excuse. Whenever I can play against my first team against your first team, most of the time I will win ”.
After struggling to throw any offense against the starting pitchers they hadn’t seen before in the first three games of the series (this was the first match between the Astros and Royals since 2019), Houston fell behind, 3- 0, in the third against familiar Mike Minor before re-entering the game.
Aledmys Diaz (3 for 5) and McCormick got consecutive RBI doubles in the sixth inning to tie the game, and Diaz’s singles-loaded single in the 10th put Houston ahead. With that, the Astros headed home with music that felt great and maybe a little boost.
“At the end of the day, we got the win,” Diaz said. “This is the most important”.