Yainer walks on six straight pitches in Parking Lot B
Walkerā¦representing the tying runā¦
This guy canāt throw a pitch within 5ft of the plateā¦but Walker manages to ground out 5-3. Which coincidentally is the score.
Mariners are 20-0 when leading after seven innings. Thatās 2022 Astros territory.
Taveras singles
Taveras picked off
Geez OāNora is awful
Walk to Mastrobuoni
Middle of eightā¦5-3 still
Smith with an infield single. Thatās three hits for him tonight
Dubon with a singke, Smith to 2B
Tying run on, two out for PeƱaā¦
Pena grounds into 5U FC
To the 9thā¦5-3 Mariners
Hader in
Hader with a clean inning
Astros need a pair to tie
Paredes flies out F8
Altuve fouls a pitch at his noseā¦fouls a pitch at his toesā¦flies out F8
Astros down to their last out
Diaz pops up
And thatās the ballgame. Astros take it in the shorts 5-3
Can somebody explain to me why Espada decided he needed to bring in Abreu to get the final out of the 7th?
I understand that he has dominated Julio, but King has been great, allowing a less than .400 OPS to RH hitters.
Before the season, Dana Brown said fewer instances of asking Abreu to get more than 3 outs was a priority this season.
King pitched Thursday, so by pitching him Friday as well, he wasnāt going to be abailable Saturday regardless. He had only thrown 10 pitches so there was no reason to not let him throw 10-15 more.
Abreu had not pitched in a while, so needed to get in the game, but 1 out still leaves a need in the 8th and 4 outs is too much. There was a greater than zero percent chance that he throws too many high stress pitches and then canāt pitch Saturday when King is also not available.
It just feels like over managing. I see too little, if any, reward for the risk.
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My guess is that Espadaās strategy is to do whatever it takes to win winnable games in the present and not to worry about the future until it arrives. I donāt necessarily disagree with that, although I think you do need to keep upcoming starters and their current form in mind.