HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Astros continue their seven-game road trip tonight with the middle game of their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH…rookie RHP J.P. France (1-1) will take the mound for Houston opposite Cleveland’s RHP Triston McKenzie (0-0)… the Astros will have their hands full with McKenzie, who posted a 0.60 ERA (1ER/15IP) in two starts against them last season.
THE FRENCHMAN:RHP J.P. France has been solid in his first six Major League starts, limiting his opponents to one-or-fewer earned runs in four of those outings…he’s coming off the longest start of his young career, tossing 7.0 innings of three-hit, one-run ball on Sunday vs. LAA…the 28-year-old rookie, and the former 14th-round pick by the Astros, earned his way to the Major League rotation after having a strong start to the season at Triple A Sugar Land, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA (5ER/19.1IP) in five games (three starts).
GRINDERS: Tonight is the 16th day in a streak of 17 consecutive days with a game for the Astros, with Houston going 8-7 thus far in that stretch…prior to this streak, the most days the Astros had played in a row was seven, a streak that opened the season from March 30-April 5.
VS. THE GUARDIANS: The Astros won the season series against the Guardians in 2022, winning four of the seven contests… Houston and Cleveland split the series at Progressive Field last year, winning two games apiece.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Astros and Guardians played a 14-inning marathon last night with Cleveland edging Houston 10-9 on walkoff single in the 14th…RHP Cristian Javier (5IP) started for Houston and was followed by six relievers, including a valiant effort from RHP Seth Martinez (3.1IP), who tossed 52 pitches as the last available reliever in the Astros bullpen… SS Jeremy Peña (4×6) tied his career high in hits, while 1B José Abreu belted his second homer of the season, a three-run shot in the 1st inning.
THIEVERY: With another two steals last night, RF Kyle Tucker has continued his efficiency on the basepaths season, going 10-for-11 in stolen base attempts…this follows up a 2022 season in which he stole 29 bases with just four caught stealings.
YESTERDAY’S ROSTER MOVE: Prior to last night’s game, the Astros placed OF Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day IL with right oblique discomfort…to take his spot on the active roster, the Astros recalled C César Salazar from Triple A Sugar Land.
PITCHING IN: The Astros have the lowest team ERA (3.29) and have allowed the fewest runs (234) in the Majors…the Astros starters rank third in Majors in ERA (3.32) and have allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in 11 of their last 21 games…also, the Astros bullpen ranks third in the Majors in ERA (3.24).
Lowest Team ERA – MLB Runs Allowed – MLB
- Houston: 3.29 1. Houston: 234
- Minnesota: 3.45 2. Minnesota: 237
- Tampa Bay: 3.52 T3. Tampa Bay/Texas: 240
HOME-GROWN STARTERS: The Astros currently have a sixman rotation, with all six pitchers coming from the Astros farm system (LHP Framber Valdez, RHP Cristian Javier, RHP Hunter Brown, RHP J.P. France, RHP Brandon Bielak, RHP Ronel Blanco)…additionally, the Astros also have three starters on the IL, with all three of them also coming from the farm system (RHP Luis Garcia, RHP Lance McCullers Jr., RHP José U
Urquidy).
BULLPEN WEAPON: RHP Phil Maton, a former Guardian, has been outstanding this season, allowing just 17 hits and four runs in his 28 appearances (31.2 IP) for a 1.14 ERA and a .159 (17×107) opponent average…among AL relievers, he ranks second in ERA (1.14), fourth in WHIP (0.76) and ninth in opponent avg. (.159)…in the AL, Maton trails only RHP Yennier Cano in ERA (1.06).
ON THE LEADERBOARD: 3B Alex Bregman ranks third in the AL in walk/strikeout ratio (1.03), tied for third in walks (35), fifth in PA/SO (8.24) and tied for fifth in games played (63)… UT Mauricio Dubón, who entered the season as a bench player, ranks sixth in the AL in batting average (.303)…the Astros are also without a huge piece of their lineup in OF Yordan Alvarez, who leads the Majors with 55 RBI, while ranking second in the AL in SLG (.589), tied for second in homers (17), second in OPS (.978) and tied for sixth in walks (32).
HOT CORNER HEATER: Since May 13, 3B Alex Bregman is batting .316 (31×98) with four doubles, five home runs, 22 RBI, 16 runs and an .892 OPS…he’s raised his season batting average from .201 to .248 in that span…he also recorded a 12-game hitting streak within this run from May 24-June 5, in which he hit .400 (18×45) with two HR, 13 RBI and six walks, while posting a 1.048 OPS (.471 OBP/.578 SLG).
TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP J.P. FRANCE
MILB W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 2-1 2.33 5 3 19.1 9 6 5 11 26
CAREER: 20-17 3.73 99 56 362.1 301 172 150 172 447
MLB W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 1-1 3.44 6 6 34.0 30 14 13 9 29
CAREER: 1-1 3.44 6 6 34.0 30 14 13 9 29
LAST START – 6/4 VS. LAA: had the best start of his young career, tossing 7 IP while allowing 1 run on 3 hits and striking out 3 batters to 1 walk…did not allow a hit through the first 5 innings of the start…was the 2nd quality start of his career…has logged 6+ innings in back-to-back starts for the 1st time in his career.
THE FIRST FRANCE: rookie right-hander made his Major League debut with his start on May 6 at Seattle…allowed 1 earned run in 11.2 IP through his first two MLB starts…he became the 4th pitcher in club history to work 5.0-plus innings, allowing 1-or-fewer runs in each of his first 2 Major League starts…joining LHP Dallas Keuchel (2012), LHP Carlos Hernández (2001) and RHP Manny Hernández as the only other Astros pitcher to record this feat.
ON THE ROAD: has posted a 1.04 ERA (2ER/17.1IP) through the first 3 road starts of his career…has held opponent’s to a .175 batting average (11×63) in those starts.
VS. CLE: will be making his first career appearance against the Guardians.
REVERSE SPLIT: has held left-handed hitters to a .158 batting average (9×57) and .485 OPS this season.
SLIDE PIECE: opponents are batting .154 against his slider this season (4×26), which has accounted for 16.5 percent of his pitches.
ABOUT FRANCE: was selected in the 14th round by the Astros in the 2018 draft out of Mississippi State…the 2023 season is his 6th in the Astros system.
- pitched for 3 years at Tulane, missed his sophomore season due to injury, before he transferred to Mississippi State…posted a 3.77 ERA in 25 appearances (59.2IP/2GS) as a grad transfer…he played a crucial part in the Bulldogs clinching an NCAA Super Regional berth by throwing 7.0 innings of two-run ball vs. Oklahoma in the Tallahassee Regional.
FRANCE’S 2023 MILB SEASON: prior to being recalled, he was with Triple A Sugar Land, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA (5ER/19.1IP) in 5 games (3 starts)…worked between the rotation and bullpen in the Space Cowboys’ piggyback starter role.
- had 26 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, while allowing just 9 hits on the season… posted a .136 (9×66) opponent average and a 1.03 WHIP.
- did not allow a home run this season in the homer-friendly Pacific Coast League… has not allowed a homer at the MiLB level since Aug. 13, 2022 at ELP…since that date, has made 17 total MiLB appearances (36IP).
FANNING FRANCE: has posted huge strikeout numbers in his minor league career, fanning 447 in 362.1 innings pitched…it is the most strikeouts by an Astros minor league player since he entered the system in 2018.
- prior to being recalled, he ranked T-5th in strikeouts-per-9-innings (11.10) among Astros minor league pitchers since 2018 (min 200 IP).
FRANCE’S CAREER: has gone 20-17 with a 3.73 ERA in 99 games (56 starts) in the minors.
- spent the entire 2022 season with Triple A Sugar Land, going 3-4 with a 3.90 ERA (48ER/110.2IP) in 34 games (15 starts)…struck out 136 hitters in his 110.2 innings, while allowing a .233 opponent average…began his season working in the rotation or making multi-inning piggyback appearances…moved to a traditional relief role in late August, finishing his season with 12 consecutive relief appearances of 2.0-or-fewer innings…posted a 2.31 ERA (3ER/11.2IP) in 9 relief appearances in September.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
GUARDS PUSH PAST ASTROS IN 14-INNING MARATHON
The Guardians emerged from a wild 14-inning affair to beat the Houston Astros, 10-9, in the opener of a 3-game weekend set on Friday night at Progressive Field…Cleveland has won or split four consecutive series overall (3 series wins, one split), needing one more victory this weekend to extend that streak to five straight. » Friday’s memorable marathon marked Cleveland’s fourth win of 2023 when trailing after the completion of 8.0 innings, as the Guardians scored to tie the game or take a lead in the 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings…Cleveland faced 4-run deficits of 4-0 and 5-1 in the early portion of the contest, as the Astros early lead was powered in part by José Abreu’s 3-run homer in the 1st off
LOGAN ALLEN (6.0IP, 9H, 5R-ER, 2BB, 4SO, HR, 85 pitches), who snapped a streak of 8 straight starts of allowing 3-or-fewer runs to begin his MLB career…Cleveland’s 3-run rally in the 5th included RBI-doubles by STEVEN KWAN and AMED ROSARIO ahead of a sac fly from ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ, as 7 different batters in the Guardians lineup drove home runs…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ tied the contest at 5-5 with a solo shot in the 7th, his fourth homer in the last 2 games…battling back from an 0-2 count, JOSH NAYLOR made it 6-6 and sent the game into extras with a 2-out RBI-double off closer Ryan Pressly in the 9th…neither offense plated its AutoRunner in the 10th or 11th frames before trading single tallies in the 12th and 13th, as the Guardians capitalized on a run-scoring throwing error and RBI-single from Kwan, respectively…Houston pulled ahead again, 9-8, in the 14th, setting the stage for a pair of RBI-doubles by TYLER FREEMAN and WILL BRENNAN, who experienced his first career walk-off plate appearance.
Cleveland (30-33) sits in 2nd place in AL Central standings, 1.5 games behind 1st-place Minnesota (32-32) & 2.0 games ahead of 3rd-place Chicago-AL (-3.5G, 29-36)…Guardians have won 5 of 6 and 8 of last 12, though have also dropped 27 of last 48 overall since starting the year 9-6…club is 3-1 on this 6-game homestand against Boston (2-1) & Houston (1-0, two-to-play).
ALL THROUGH THE LATE NIGHT
Friday night’s back-and-forth, 13.1 inning contest is the 2ndlongest MLB game this season behind a May 7 affair at Wrigley Field in which Miami bested Chicago-NL 5-4 in 14 total innings… Friday night’s game was 2 outs away from 14 total innings due to the walk-off…the last time Cleveland won a game that lasted 14.0+ frames was a 7-6 victory against Minnesota in 15 innings on September 19, 2022, the second game of a doubleheader…from a time-of-game standpoint, last night’s contest lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes, the 2nd-longest game this season behind a 4-hour-9-minute contest on May 16 between Arizona and Oakland, with the Athletics besting the Diamondbacks, 9-8, in 12 innings.
The Guardians were trailing and scored to tie or go ahead in the 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings…they’re the only MLB team in the modern era to erase a deficit in 5 separate innings in the 7th inning-or-later in the same game (OptaSTATS).
LOOKING LIKE THE A-TEAM
Since May 28, Cleveland’s offense leads MLB with 129 hits, ahead of Atlanta (120)…the Guards also lead MLB with 8 double-digit hit games during that span…the club has double-digit hits in 4 straight contests and 8 of its last 12 games..the Guardians are hitting .292, 1st in the AL and 2nd in MLB behind Atlanta (.305) since May 28…during this stretch, Cleveland is also 1st in doubles (36), 1st in extra-base hits (48) and T2nd in runs scored (67) with Los Angeles-NL…the last time the Guardians had 129-or-more hits over a 12 game span was from July 8 through the first game of a doubleheader on July 23rd last season (129)…the club has accomplished the feat three times since the start of 2018.
WILL BRENNAN collected his first walk-off plate appearance with an RBI-double off the left field wall in the 14th frame…he has hit safely in 9 of his last 10 games, owning a .462 (18-for-39) batting average with 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 8 RBI over that stretch…he’s tallied multiple hits in 8 of his last 11 games and his .462 batting average during the stretch ranks 3rd in MLB behind PIT’s Ke’Bryan Hayes and MIA’s Luis Arraez.
JOSH NAYLOR tied the game in the 9th frame with a double off the left field wall…marks his 22nd RBI in the 7th inning-or-later this season, tying STL’s Nolan Gorman for the most such RBI in MLB… he’s tallied multiple RBI in 10 games this season and 3 since May 28… extended his hit streak to a career-high 9 games following his single in the 5th frame…has a slash line of .500/.550/.778 with one home run and 13 RBI during that stretch…has multiple hits in 6 of his 9 games during this streak…since May 28, he’s 4th in MLB with a .439 batting average (18-for-41) and his 13 RBI rank T2nd with 3 other players…leads AL first basemen with 45 RBI and is 2nd in MLB behind NYM’s Pete Alonso.
JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ!
JOSÉ RAMÍREZ followed up his first career 3-home run game by going 3-for-4 with a double, one home run, one RBI and 2 runs scored…he passed Ken Keltner (306) for 6th-most doubles in franchise history with a double in the 1st frame…he needs 61 more doubles to pass Lou Boudreau (367) for 5th-most in franchise history…he became the first Guardians player with 4-or-more home runs and 5-or-more extra-base hits over a 2-game span since Travis Hafner from July 19-20, 2004 (5HR)…since the start of 2017 ,he leads all MLB hitters in extra-base hits (446) and multi-XBH games (83), is T1st in doubles (237) with Nick Castellanos and is 2nd in go-ahead RBI (144) behind Nolan Arenado (153)…enters today needing one more go-ahead RBI to pass Carlos Santana (172) for 9th-most in club history.
STANDING FOR THE LAND
At this point in 2022, Cleveland had 464,849 fans attend their first 30 home games, averaging approximately 15,495 fans per contest… in the first 30 home games of the 2023 season, Progressive Field has hosted 585,858 fans, an average of 19,529 fans per contest… from 2022 to 2023, Cleveland has seen 121,009 more fans to this point, resulting in a 26% increase in overall attendance and a 4,034-person increase per game
TONIGHT’S STARTER – 24 TRISTON MCKENZIE RHP
MCKENZIE AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2022 5-3 2.77 13 13 81.1 57 26 25 16 96
Career 7-7 3.61 29 26 152.0 104 62 61 46 185
MCKENZIE’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 0-0 0.00 1 1 5.0 1 0 0 1 10
Career 18-21 3.63 65 61 349.2 244 143 141 112 378
TONIGHT’S START
The 25-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make his second start of the 2023 season…debuted on June 4 after missing 58 games on the Injured List due to a right teres major strain…made 3 rehab appearances at Triple-A Columbus, allowing 5 earned runs over 10.1 combined innings (4.35 ERA)…is pitching on 5 days of rest; holds a 7-12 record in with a 4.65 ERA (74ER/143.1IP) in 27 career starts on 5 days rest.
LAST TIME OUT
McKenzie made his 2023 debut on Sunday, June 4, at Target Field in Minnesota…he did not factor into the decision of the Guardians 2-1 victory over the Twins…he threw 5.0 shutout innings of one-hit baseball, allowed a walk and tallied 10 strikeouts on 79 pitches…McKenzie struck out 2 of his first 3 hitters through the 1st inning, 4 of 6 through the 2nd, 6 of 10 through the 3rd, 8 of 14 through the 4th and 10 of 17 hitters he faced in his outing altogether…a Michael A. Taylor single in the 3rd and Jorge Solano walk in the 4th marked Minnesota’s only two hitters to reach base in his 5.0 innings of work…McKenzie became the 5th pitcher in MLB history with a stat line of 5.0-or-fewer-shutout-innings, one-or-fewer hits, one-or-fewer walks and 10+ strikeouts…he became the second Clevelander with such a stat line, accomplished first by Mike Clevinger on April 7, 2019 vs. Toronto.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Will be making his fourth career start against the Astros, second at Progressive Field…he has a 2-1 record with a 2.84 ERA (6ER/19.0IP) in his 3 starts against Houston…his 2.84 ERA is his 2nd-lowest against any AL West opponent, behind Oakland (1.96)…after a loss in his first career outing against the Astros in 2021, he won both starts against Houston last season, tallying a 0.60 ERA (1ER/15.0IP) with 5 hits, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts while holding the Astros to a .104 average…among all 42 MLB pitchers with 2+ starts against Houston last season, McKenzie’s .104 average, .140 OBP, .328 OPS, .111 BABIP, 3.00 H/9 and 4.20 BR/9 all ranked 2nd while his 0.60 ERA ranked T3rd…in his most recent start against the Astros on August 7, 2022, he tossed 8.0 shutout innings of 2-hit baseball, allowing one walk and striking out 8.
This will be his 13th start against an AL West opponent…owning a 4-5 record…he has a 3.88 ERA (28ER/65.0IP) and a .197 opposing batting average, both of which are his highest against any AL division…finished 2022 with a 3-2 record and 2.31 ERA (10ER/39.0IP) in 6 starts against the division.
LEFTIES? RIGHTIES? IT DOESN’T MATTER…
Among MLB pitchers who have faced 700+ right-handed hitters since 2020, McKenzie has the 2nd-lowest BABIP (.225), 3rd-fewest baserunners allowed (198), 4th-fewest hits allowed (135), 4th-lowest average against (.192) and 5th-lowest on-base percentage (.258).
Among MLB pitchers who have faced 500+ left-handed hitters since 2020, McKenzie has the 4th-lowest BABIP (.242), 5th-lowest average against (.198) 5th-lowest baserunners allowed (167) and 6th-fewest hits allowed (109).
McKenzie is the only MLB pitcher since his career began to rank top-10 in BABIP against both righties (min. 700BF) and lefties (min. 500BF)…he is also the only MLB pitcher since 2020 to rank top5 in average against both righties (min. 700BF) and lefties (min. 500BF), and the only pitcher to hold both sides under .200.
NO HITS FOR YOU
Since making his MLB debut in 2020, opposing hitters are slashing just .195/.265/.364 against McKenzie…his .232 BABIP leads all MLB pitchers (min. 300IP) since 2020, and his .195 average and 6.28 H/9 only trails Houston’s Christian Javier’s .184 average, and 5.90 H/9…McKenzie’s 244 hits allowed since 2020 are 4th-fewest of any MLB pitcher (min. 300IP) during that span.
