The Houston Astros have enjoyed a measure of success offensively with Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve occupying the top three spots in their batting order.
With Paredes (hamstring strain) sidelined for the opener of a three-game series against the visiting Minnesota Twins on Friday — Game 2 will be Saturday afternoon — the Astros opted to keep Pena and Altuve in their respective spots and slotted Yainer Diaz into the two-hole. The results were positive, as Pena recorded a four-hit game while Altuve drove in three runs in the Astros’ 10-3 victory.
Diaz finished 1-for-5 and scored a run while hitting between Pena and Altuve, who owned a .943 OPS batting third entering Friday.
“He’s kind of in a comfort zone there,” Astros manager Joe Espada said of Altuve in the three-hole. “I like his production. I like where Pena is at right now. Diaz is swinging the bat well, so sandwich him in there between those two hot hitters. I thought it was a good fit.”
Right-hander Hunter Brown (8-3, 1.82 ERA), who leads the American League in ERA, is scheduled to start for the Astros on Saturday. He did not factor into the decision of a 5-3, 10-inning win over the Cleveland Guardians last Saturday, allowing one run on four hits and five walks with nine strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.
It was just the third start this season in which Brown, tied for first in the AL with 10 quality starts, didn’t complete six-plus innings.
Brown is 2-2 with a 5.16 ERA over five career starts against the Twins. He allowed two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts over six innings in a 5-2 win at Minnesota on April 3.
Right-hander Joe Ryan (7-2, 2.96) has the starting assignment for the Twins on Saturday. He earned a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday after allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts over five innings. Ryan is unbeaten in his last eight starts, going 6-0 with a 2.35 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 46 innings.
Ryan is 2-4 with a 7.58 ERA over six career starts against the Astros. He allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts over five innings in a 5-2 home loss against Houston on April 3.
After facing Astros left-hander Colton Gordon on Friday, the Twins are scheduled to face another southpaw, Brandon Walter, in the series finale on Sunday. In response, Minnesota had just one strictly left-handed hitter, designated hitter Matt Wallner, in their starting lineup in the opener.
Ideally, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli would prefer to get more left-handed hitters involved offensively, even with Minnesota scheduled to face several southpaws in the coming days.
“We don’t know this for a fact, but we could be getting one if not two more in Cincinnati, too,” Baldelli said of the Twins’ next road series. “I’d like to find ways to get one of our lefties in the lineup to keep them going, to keep them involved seeing pitches, and keep them locked in.
“If you just leave them on the sidelines and run with the lineup that you start with, they’re just not going to play this week, almost at all.”
–Field Level Media
