HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Astros continue their seven-game road trip tonight with the first of three against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH…RHP Cristian Javier (7-1) will take the mound for Houston opposite Cleveland’s rookie pitcher LHP Logan Allen (3-2)…Javier is in the midst of a five-game winning streak for the Astros, recording a 1.86 ERA (6ER/29IP) with 29 strikeouts during the streak.
GRINDERS: Tonight is the 15th day in a streak of 17 consecutive days with a game for the Astros, with Houston going 8-6 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.
MR. CRISTIAN: RHP Cristian Javier has been on a role over his last nine outings, posting a 2.39 ERA (14ER/52.2IP), a .187 opponent average, a 0.93 WHIP and an 9.91 strikeouts per 9.0 ratio in those starts…on the season, Javier ranks ninth in in the AL in WHIP (0.99), ninth in opponent average (.209), 10th in strikeout to walk ratio (4.50) and 11th in ERA (2.84).
LAST NIGHT’S RECAP: The Astros were edged by the Blue Jays last night, 3-2…LHP Framber Valdez started the game for the Astros, but received the loss (5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO)…3B Alex Bregman (1×4, HR) continued his hot play over the last month…LF Chas McCormick (2×3) and 1B José Abreu (2×4) each had a multi-hit game for the Astros.
VS. THE GUARDIANS: The Astros won the season series against the Guardians in 2022, 4-3…Houston and Cleveland split the series at Progressive Field in 2022, 2-2.
HOT CORNER HEATER: Since May 13, 3B Alex Bregman is batting .326 (30×92) with three doubles, five home runs, 21 RBI, 15 runs and a .910 OPS…has raised his season batting average from .201 to .250 in that span…also recorded a 12-game hitting streak from May 24-June 5, batting .400 (18×45) with 2 HR, 13 RBI and 6 BB, while posting a 1.048 OPS (.471 OBP/.578 SLG).
MR. CLUTCH: LF Yordan Alvarez leads the Majors in RBI with 55 in just 57 games played…he has been at his best in the big moments in his career, especially this season…he’s hitting .413 (19×46) with RISP, .500 (10×20) with RISP and two outs, .600 (6×10) with the bases loaded, and .345 (10×29) in close and late situations.
MLB RBI Leaders
- Y. Alvarez – 55
- A. Garcia – 52
T3. M. Semien – 50
T3. R. Devers – 50
GOLD GLOVE: The 2022 AL Gold Glove winner at SS, Jeremy Peña has committed just 2 errors in 242 total chances this season…the 242 total chances are the most among all MLB shortstops…his .992 fielding percentage ranks 2nd among MLB shortstops.
TODAY’S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have placed OF Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day IL (right oblique discomfort)…he will return to Houston for further evaluation.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Astros are 18-13 (.581) on the road this season, which ranks 4th in the AL behind BAL (21-12, .636) , TEX (19-12, .613) and NYY (17-12, .586)…since 2021, the Astros are a combined 113-80 (.585) on the road, which is tops in the AL.
PITCHING IN: The Astros have the lowest team ERA (3.25) and have allowed the fewest runs (224) in the Majors…the Astros starters rank third in Majors in ERA (3.26) and have allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in 11 of their last 20 games…also, the Astros bullpen ranks third in the AL in ERA (3.24).
Lowest Team ERA – MLB Runs Allowed – MLB
- Houston: 3.25 1. Houston: 224
- Minnesota: 3.46 2. Texas: 232
- Tampa Bay: 3.53 3. Minnesota: 235
ON THE LEADERBOARD: In addition to leading the Majors in RBI with 55, Yordan Alvarez also ranks second in the AL in HR (17) and SLG (.579), third in OPS (.964) and sixth in walks (32)…Alex Bregman ranks second in the AL in walk/strikeout ratio (1.10), fourth in PA/SO (8.81) and 4th in walks (34).
HOME-GROWN: The Astros currently have a six-man rotation, with all six pitchers coming from the Astros farm system (Valdez, Javier, Brown, France, Bielak, Blanco)…additionally, the Astros have three ML starters currently on the IL, with all three of them also coming from the farm system (Garcia, McCullers Jr., Urquidy).
HECTOR’S HOT STREAK: RHP Hector Neris allowed a single run in the 7th inning on Wed. night at TOR, snapping his career-best scoreless streak at 16.2 innings…the streak, which spanned 19 apps., also is the longest by an Astro this season.
TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP CRISTIAN JAVIER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 7-1 2.84 12 12 69.2 53 23 22 16 72
CAREER: 27-13 3.01 90 56 374.0 245 129 125 139 450
vs. CLE W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2022: 1-1 0.77 2 2 11.2 9 1 1 1 13
CAREER: 1-1 0.63 4 2 14.1 11 1 1 2 27
LAST START – 6/3 VS. LAA: earned his 5th consecutive victory, allowed 1 run on 6 hits with no walks, 11 strikeouts in 6.0 innings…recorded his 7th quality start of the season…was also his 5th quality start in his last 6 starts…during that time span dating back to May 5, he’s recorded a 2.25 ERA (9ER/36IP) with a 0.86 WHIP, 37 strikeouts and a .176 opponent batting average with Houston going 6-0.
ABOUT JAVIER: dynamic starter is making his 13th start of the season…the Astros have gone 10-2 in Javier’s 12 starts this season and are 16-2 in Javier’s last 18 starts dating back to Aug. 31, 2022…in his those 18 starts, he’s recorded a 2.27 ERA (26ER/103IP) with 116 strikeouts, a 0.91 WHIP and a .184 opponent batting average.
- has rounded into form over his last 9 outings, posting a 2.39 ERA (14ER/52.2IP), a .187 opponent average, a 0.93 WHIP.
INVISIBALL: has held opponents to a .184 average (245×1331) throughout his MLB career… it’s the lowest opponent’s batting average (min. 350 IP) of any MLB pitcher since entering the league in ‘20…the next-closest players are MIL Corbin Burnes (.196) and LAA Shohei Ohtani (.200).
LEAGUE LEADERBOARD: in the AL, he ranks ninth in in the AL in WHIP (0.99), ninth in opponent average (.209), 10th in strikeout to walk ratio (4.50) and 11th in ERA (2.84)
VS. THE LAND: will make his 5th appearance (3rd start) against the Guardians…has recorded a 0.63 ERA (1ER/14.1IP) with 17 strikeouts, 2 walks, a 0.91 WHIP and a .208 opponent batting average.
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
RAMÍREZ’S HISTORIC NIGHT LEADS GUARDS TO WIN
The Guardians closed out a series win over the Boston Red Sox with a cathartic 10-3 victory on Thursday night at Progressive Field that saw JOSÉ RAMÍREZ homer three times to give him 9 on the season…marked the club’s fourth consecutive victory in a series finale, as Cleveland has now either won or split four consecutive series overall (3 series wins, one split).
Ramírez went 3-for-5 with 5 RBI, collecting career home runs No. 199, 200 and 201 on his historic night…drilled a pair of round-trippers batting right-handed, tagging a solo shot off Matt Dermody (4.0IP, 4H, 3R-ER, BB, SO, 2HR, HBP, 76 pitches) in the 1st inning and another 2-run blast off the left-hander in the 3rd…Ramírez added another solo blast from the left-side off former Clevelander Corey Kluber (3.1IP, 11H, 7R-ER, BB, SO, 2HR, 73 pitches) in the 6th inning and then tacked on a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the 8th for his fifth RBI…WILL BRENNAN led off the 8th with a solo homer (4) off Kluber…Cleveland’s 5-run rally in the 6th also included a 2-run double from ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ, an RBI-triple by MYLES STRAW and an RBI-single courtesy of Brennan…AARON CIVALE earned his second victory in his fourth start of 2023 (5.2IP, 4H, 2R-ER, 2BB, 3SO, HR, WP, 93 pitches)…gave up an RBI-single to Jarren Duran in the 5th ahead of surrendering a solo homer to
Triston Casas (7) in the 6th.
Cleveland (29-33) sits in 2nd place in AL Central standings, 1.5 games behind 1st-place Minnesota (31-32) & 1.5 games ahead of Chicago-AL (28-36) & Detroit (26-34), who are T3rd-place… Guardians have won 4 of 5 and 7 of last 11, though have also dropped 27 of last 47 overall since starting the year 9-6…club is 2-1 on this 6-game homestand against Boston & Houston (3 games).
CLEVELAND AGAINST ASTROWORLD
Tonight marks the first of 6 meetings between Houston and Cleveland this season…Houston narrowly won last year’s season series by a 4-3 margin after the Astros won 2 of 3 at home, then split 2 of 4 with the Guardians in Cleveland…since 2021, the Guards have a 4-10 (.286) record against the Astros, their lowest win percentage against any AL team during that span…Cleveland has dropped each of the last 4 season series against Houston, their last season series victory coming in 2017 when they won 5 of 6…since 2019, the Guards have lost 8 of their last 11 games at Progressive Field against the Astros, but won the last 2 home contests in last year’s series in Cleveland…under Terry Francona (since 2013), the Guardians are 34-31 against the Astros…Cleveland holds a 42-41 lead over Houston in the all-time series dating back to 1997, and a 21-19 record in all home games against the Astros, dating back to 1998.
JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ!
In last night’s contest vs. Boston, JOSÉ RAMÍREZ recorded the first 3-home run game of his career…he now has 201 career home runs, passing Travis Hafner for 9th-most in team history…he is now 14 home runs away from passing Andre Thornton for 8th-most in club history…he became the first Cleveland hitter with a 3-HR game since Edwin Encarnación on May 2, 2018 vs. Texas…he became the second player in club history to have a 3-HR game with at least one homer from each side of the plate, last done by Victor Martínez on July 16, 2004…with the 3-HR, 5-RBI performance, Ramírez leads all MLB hitters since 2017 in extra-base hits (444), multi-XBH games (82), 3+RBI games (69) and 4+RBI games (25), while ranking 2nd in 5+RBI games (9), only trailing Nelson Cruz (13)…Ramírez enters today’s game tied with Ken Keltner (306) for 6th-most doubles in franchise history and tied with Carlos Santana (172) for 9th-most go-ahead RBI…among MLB hitters since 2017, Ramírez ranks T1st with Nick Castellanos for most doubles (236) and 2nd in go-ahead RBI (144), behind Nolan Arenado (153).
CLEVELAND ROCKS
Since May 28, Cleveland’s offense leads MLB with 115 hits, ahead of Atlanta (112)…the Guards are also tied with Texas (7) for most double-digit hit games among MLB teams during that span… the club has double-digit hits in 3 straight contests and 7 of its last 11 games…the Guardians are hitting .294, 2nd in the AL behind Texas (.306) and 3rd in MLB since May 28…Cleveland has scored 57 runs since May 28, 3rd in the AL behind Texas and Houston (59) and 5th in MLB…the Guards 29 doubles rank T2nd in MLB/AL during the span…the club’s .344 BABIP during the span ranks 2nd in the AL and 4th in MLB…the Guardians 40 extra-base hits only trail Texas (42) for most in MLB since May 28…entering today, both Cleveland and Houston have been two of MLB’s most prolific hitting teams since May 28.
CLEVELAND VS. HOUSTON SINCE MAY 28 (MLB RANK)
TEAM AVG R H TB XBH
CLE .294 (3rd) 57 (5th) 115 (1st) 175 (4th) 40 (2nd)
HOU .255 (11th) 59 (T2nd) 102 (4th) 189 (2nd) 39 (T3rd)
Among MLB hitters since May 28, JOSH NAYLOR ranks 2nd in OPS (1.273), T2nd in batting average (.471), 3rd in OBP (.538) and doubles (6) and T5th in RBI (11)…he enters today’s game on a career-long 8-game hitting streak…WILL BRENNAN ranks T2nd in batting average (.471), 3rd in OPS (1.265), 4th in SLG (.765) and T4th in OBP (.500) over that same span…he enters today with a hit in 8 of his last 10 games, including 6 multi-hit efforts…since May 28, JOSÉ RAMÍREZ ranks T1st in extra-base hits (8) and doubles (5), and STEVEN KWAN ranks T1st in runs (12).
STANDING FOR THE LAND
At this point in 2022, Cleveland had 447,783 fans attend their first 29 home games, averaging approximately 15,441 fans per contest… in the first 29 home games of the 2023 season, Progressive Field has hosted 554,071 fans, an average of 19,106 fans per contest… from 2022 to 2023, Cleveland has seen 106,288 more fans to this point, resulting in a 24% increase in overall attendance and a 3,665-person increase per game.
TONIGHT’S STARTER – 41 LOGAN ALLEN LHP
ALLEN’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 3-2 2.76 8 8 45.2 48 15 14 13 47
Career 3-2 2.76 8 8 45.2 48 15 14 13 47
ALLEN AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 1-1 3.68 4 4 22.0 27 10 9 6 20
Career 1-1 3.68 4 4 22.0 27 10 9 6 20
TODAY’S START
The 24-year-old rookie southpaw is set to make his ninth career MLB start, fifth at home, in the opening contest of this 3-game set with the Houston Astros.
Has started his MLB career with 8 straight starts of 3-or-fewer runs allowed…the last Cleveland pitcher to accomplish that feat was AARON CIVALE, who did it in 9 straight starts from June 22-September 18, 2019…looking to make his 4th straight quality start and earn his 3rd consecutive win…he leads all rookie starters (min 35.0IP) with a 2.76 ERA (14ER/45.2IP).
Allen was originally selected by Cleveland in the 2nd Round (56th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft out of Florida International University…entered the season as Cleveland’s #8 prospect according to MLB.com…he is starting on extended 5 days’ rest; owns a 2.38 ERA (6ER/22.2IP) across 4 starts on 5 days’ rest.
LAST TIME OUT
He collected his third career win on Saturday in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins after allowing 2R/ER over 6.0 innings with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks…Jorge Polanco led off the game for Minnesota with a solo shot to left-center field…the left-hander proceeded to work through the 4th inning unscathed following the HR before allowing Christian Vasquez to double with one out in the 5th frame…he scored on an RBI-double from Donovan Solano two batters later…back-to-back batters reached on singles to open up the 6th inning and advanced to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ squashed the jam with an unassisted double play, finishing Allen’s outing…Allen now has back-to-back wins and 3 straight quality starts.
GETTING IN THE EARLY WORK
Despite allowing a leadoff home run in his last start, Allen has had success the first time through the lineup…the lefty is holding opposing hitters to a .149 (10-for-67) average the first time through the lineup compared to a .328 (22-for-67) mark the second time through the order and a .333 (16-for-48) average the third time through…across his first 8 starts, he’s allowed just 2 earned runs in the first 3 innings (0.75 ERA), including zero earned runs in the 2nd frame…conversely, he owns a 4.98 ERA (12ER/21.2IP) in the 4th through 7th innings.
THE ALLEN WRENCH
On May 29 at Baltimore, Allen became the 3rd pitcher in franchise history to begin a career with 43+ strikeouts in their first 7 career starts, joining Danny Salazar (45) and Herb Score (66)… he became the 3rd pitcher in club history to begin a career with 7 straight starts of 3-or-fewer earned runs, joining AARON CIVALE (9, 2019) and Cliff Lee (10, 2002-03)…with 10 strikeouts in his outing on May 29 at Baltimore, he became the 2nd Cleveland pitcher with three outings of 8+ strikeouts within the first 7 starts of a career, last done by Herb Score (5 times) in 1955…he is the 8th Cleveland pitcher to throw 10+ strikeouts in an outing within their first 7 career starts, last done by TRISTON MCKENZIE on 8/22/2020 vs. Detroit (10 SO).
On April 30 at Boston, he joined Score as the only two pitchers in club history to begin a career with back-to-back 8+ strikeout outings…in his first career start, a 7-4 victory against the Marlins on April 23, Allen’s 8 strikeouts were the 4th-most in Cleveland franchise history for a Major League debut…the left-hander also became the third pitcher in franchise history to throw 6.0+ innings, record 8+ strikeouts and hold an opponent to one-or-zero runs in an MLB debut, last done by TRISTON MCKENZIE on 8/22/2020… Luis Tiant first accomplished the feat on July 19, 1964, in a complete game shutout.
