Houston Astros edge past Cleveland Indians 3-2 at Minute Maid Park - MLB Update
The Houston Astros must be a relieved bunch after the team was able to arrest a five game skid at Minute Maid Park against the Cleveland Indians posting a close 3-2 win on Friday, April 19, 2013.
Astros currently own a 5-11 record in their first season in the highly competitive American League West. This was their first single run victory this season.
The Astros are having low expectations from themselves as Manager Bo Porter is trying to bring a team back into contention from two successive bottom sitting of the Major League Baseball table performances in the last two years with over hundred losses each.
Lucas Harrell was the starting pitcher for the Astros who ended up with pitching five and a bit innings and was not all too pleased when he was retired. This was the first win for Lucas this season. He did find it hard to throw strikes and the pitcher is
certainly aware of that.
"I was struggling to throw strikes again," Harrell said. "That's kind of the trend right now.”
The pitcher will certainly be looking to improve upon the trend in the coming games to be able to perform consistently well for his ball club.
The scoring for the Astros took place in the second innings when J.D. Martinez and Rickie Ankiel both went long. Martinez smashed a two-run home-run with Ankiel following with a solo effort.
The margin was reduced in the top of the fourth innings by the Indians but they were never able to overcome it entirely.
Bo Porter was quite pleased with the outcome and didn’t see much difference being made by the margin of victory.
“Whether the score is 10-1 or 3-2, it always feels good to win," said manager Bo Porter,
The relief pitchers too were outstanding as they were able to throw down more than three innings without surrendering a run. The manager was all praise for the relief pitchers and was also happy with the performance in the field.
"It was outstanding," Porter said. "Wesley gave us quality work against a lineup that had several switch-hitters and a bunchy of lefties, and he did a tremendous job of keeping the game right there. Ambriz came in and did a solid job, and Veras a tremendous
job closing it out. Defensively, we had three big double plays and got out of some tough jams. I'm very proud of the guys tonight."
It’s great to see that the Astros have played a close game and have come up on top. They will need to win a few more in order to gain some of the confidence they have lost in the last few years because of an unsatisfactory performance. A new league may just
help them in getting the boost that they needed.
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