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AJ Jones – Sports Director
Heading Down the Home Stretch
Houston Astros
Framber Valdez looked a great deal like the pitcher who set the record for the most consecutive quality starts last season by pitching 7 strong innings, allowing only 1-run on 5 hits and striking out 5 in the Astros’ 7-1 win over the Royals yesterday.
Slugger Yordan Alvarez & Jake Meyers added the run support by hitting their 28th & 10th HRs respectively.
The win helped the Stros avoid being swept by one of the worst teams in MLB and allowed them to get out of KC holding a 1.5-game lead over the Rangers and 2.5 over the Mariners with 10 left to play.
Business is about to pick up and the AL East-leading Oriole is coming to H-Town for the next 3. Justin Verlander gets the start tonight @ 7:10 in the series opener.
The Astros will get another shot at the Royals when they host KC on Friday, Saturday & Sunday as they head down the home stretch.
Photo of Pitcher Framber Valdez courtesy of AP. September 17, 2023
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The Texans are once again off to a less-than-desired start falling to 0-2 on the young season after losing 25-9 to Baltimore in the season opener last week and 31-20 in their home opener yesterday. Clearly, this is not what the city expected following all the excitement that came with the hiring of one of their fan favorites Head Coach DeMeco Ryans, yet here we are.
Injuries on the offensive line have been a major factor in the Texans’ slow start. Scott Quessenberry, Juice Scruggs, Titus Howard, & Kenyon Green have not played a single down this season and yesterday the team was without arguably their best player, Laremy Tunsil, in their loss to the Colts.
Needless to say, rookie QB CJ Stroud has been most affected by those injuries having been sacked 9 times & hurried almost too many times to count.
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While Stroud threw for 384 yards with 2 TDs, the hits are bound to take their toll over a 17-game season. “Had a hard week and had to fight my tail off just to be able to play,” he said. “My shoulder was hurting me, but I wanted to be out there for my guys. I wanted to play.”
Fans were packed in NRG ready to explode but found themselves silently wondering… “Have we seen this bad pic before?” & sighing out loud “Here we go again…”
CJ however is more optimistic saying, “I’m not happy right now because we lost but I definitely think we’ve done a lot of good things on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball as well,” “Once we play together as a team, man watch out. I think this team is ready to win and we’ve just got to put it together.”
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