ASTROS SKID REACHES DOUBLE DIGITS
Houston Only Winless Club in MLB
TORONTO, Apr. 10 (AP) - The Houston Astros' season-opening losing streak reached
10 as they fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 at Rogers Centre. The Astros
are the only team in the major leagues yet to win a game. The victory was
the fourth in a row for the Jays.
The contest was close for the first five and a half innings. Toronto drew
first blood, pushing a run across in the bottom of the first against Houston
starter Dallas Keuchel when Melky Cabrera led off the inning with a home
run. The Astros tied the game in the fourth on Jason Castro's one-out solo
home run off R.A. Dickey.
But while Dickey was suffocating the Astros--allowing only two hits and a walk
while fanning six over the game's first seven innings--Keuchel was dancing
between the raindrops. Keuchel never set the side down in order and needed
three double plays to avoid further trouble through the first five frames.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Jays broke through and seized firm control of
the game. After Macier Izturis was retired on a fly to left, Keuchel
issued back-to-back walks to Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. With a
badly overworked bullpen front and center in his mind, Houston manager Bo Porter
stuck with Keuchel who yielded a run-scoring single to Dioner Navarro, giving
Toronto a 2-1 lead and leaving runners on first and second. Keuchel fanned
Bret Lawrie for the second out but then allowed consecutive RBI singles to Colby
Rasums and Josh Thole before finally giving way to Josh Fields. Fields
retired Jonathan Diaz for the final out, but the Blue Jays now led, 4-1.
The Astros got a run back in the eighth. Matt Dominguez led off with a
double, sending Dickey to the showers. Reliever Esmil Rogers struck out
Robbie Grossman, but Jonathan Villar doubled Dominguez home. Rogers
retired the next two batters without incident.
The Jays added some insurance in their half of the inning when Josh Zied
surrendered a double to Navarro leading off the inning and a two-run home run to
Lawrie to cap the scoring. Aaron Loup and Dustin McGowan combined to get
the last three outs of the game for Toronto.
The Astros will try to break their losing streak during a three-game series with
the team holding the second worst record in the American League: the Texas
Rangers.
4/10/2014, Hou14-Tor14, Rogers Centre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Astros 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 1 3 3 2014 Blue Jays 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 x 6 11 0 6 1 Astros AB R H BI AVG Blue Jays AB R H BI AVG Fowler cf 4 0 0 0 .304 Cabrera,Me lf 4 1 1 1 .326 Presley rf 3 0 0 0 .179 Izturis 2b 4 0 1 0 .323 Castro,J c 4 1 1 1 .161 Bautista rf 3 1 1 0 .297 Altuve 2b 4 0 2 0 .436 Encarnacion 1b 3 1 1 0 .205 Carter dh 4 0 0 0 .229 Navarro,D dh 4 1 3 1 .378 Krauss 1b 3 0 0 0 .130 Goins pr 0 1 0 0 .077 Dominguez,M 3b 3 1 1 0 .289 Lawrie 3b 4 1 1 2 .270 Grossman lf 3 0 0 0 .200 Rasmus,Col cf 3 0 1 1 .306 Villar ss 3 0 1 1 .257 Thole c 4 0 2 1 .200 31 2 5 2 Diaz,Jo ss 4 0 0 0 .261 33 6 11 6 Astros INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Keuchel L 0-2 5.2 9 4 4 3 6 99 62 6.17 Fields 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 15 12 2.25 Zeid 1.0 2 2 2 0 0 10 8 27.00 8.0 11 6 6 3 8 124 82 Blue Jays INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Dickey W 1-2 7.0 3 2 2 1 6 95 59 3.66 Rogers,E H 2 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 19 11 9.95 Loup 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 6 4 0.00 McGowan 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 0.00 9.0 5 2 2 1 7 125 77 Tor: Goins ran for Navarro,D in the 8th E-Dominguez,M. 2B-Altuve(4), Dominguez,M(3), Villar(3), Encarnacion(3), Navarro,D(3). HR-Castro,J(2), Cabrera,Me(2), Lawrie(3). RBI-Castro,J(5), Villar(8), Cabrera,Me(5), Navarro,D(11), Lawrie 2(11), Rasmus,Col(9), Thole(1). K-Fowler, Carter 2, Krauss 2, Dominguez,M, Grossman, Cabrera,Me, Izturis 2, Encarnacion, Navarro,D, Lawrie, Diaz,Jo 2. BB-Presley, Bautista, Encarnacion, Rasmus,Col. GWRBI: Navarro,D Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 22,148 Game Time: 2:51