The Houston Astros’ nine game winning streak is the major story of the early season, as the upstart Astros have shocked the league. The Astros cruised against the Mariners last night and their 17 wins this season are tied with St. Louis for the most wins in baseball. There were other major storylines from yesterday’s slate of games as well; this is the daily update for May 3, 2015
Recap
Astros keep rolling against the Mariners
An 11-4 victory for the Astros was spurred by a balanced offensive effort that saw each starter get on base and seven different players register an RBI. Jose Altuve‘s streak of multi-hit games ended at nine, but he was 1-for-4 with a three-run home run, his third home run of the season. Jose Altuve’s 19 RBI are fourth in the American League this season and he has a .936 OPS. Evan Gattis, Colby Rasmus, Luis Valbuena, and Hank Conger all added to Altuve’s home run, as Mariners’ starter Taijuan Walker allowed eight earned runs and three home runs. Nelson Cruz added two home runs for the Mariners in a losing effort, his 12th and 13th home runs of the season.
Blue Jays score 11 runs against the Indians
With all of the talk about outstanding pitching dominating the early slate of the 2015 season, the Blue Jays have scored 10 runs six times this season; not other team has scored 10 runs more than three times this season and the Indians allowed 11 runs to the Blue Jays in an 11-4 loss on Saturday. Corey Kluber continued his poor start to the 2015 season, allowing four earned runs in five innings pitched, and the stars for the Blue Jays showed up in Cleveland. Jose Bautista was 2-for-5 with a run scored, a double and 4 RBI; Edwin Encarnacion had 2 RBI and a double; Josh Donaldson had a run scored and an RBI; Devon Travis was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two walks; and Russell Martin was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, and a solo home run. The Blue Jays have scored 13 more runs than any other team in baseball and Donaldson and Travis are each top-five in the American League in offensive WAR.
Chris Archer ends scoreless run for Rays
After not allowing a run since Opening Day, Chris Archer allowed four runs, six hits, and four walks in six innings against the Orioles. Archer’s stat line for the 2015 season is brutal; he is now 3-3 and the only games in which he has allowed a run, he has lost. The process behind when Archer is dominant or not is quite simple; during his scoreless run, he had more ground ball outs than fly ball outs in each start and averaged eight strikeouts per start, yielding only one walk per start. Yesterday, though, he had 10 fly ball outs and eight ground ball outs, walking four batters and striking out five. This may have been just a small blip on the radar for Archer, as he has a 5.65 career ERA against Baltimore in 36 2/3 innings. He is still at least an SP3 and a must start pitcher.
David Price wins pitcher’s duel with Edinson Volquez
Edinson Volquez pitched a solid six innings, allowing two runs, but David Price was better, allowing only a Lorenzo Cain home run in the ninth inning of a complete game victory. Price came off of two rough outings, allowing 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings, but held the Royals scoreless for 8 2/3 innings yesterday. Price only had three strikeouts yesterday, but had no walks allowed and threw 71% first pitch strikes to move his record to 3-1. Price has allowed five hits or fewer in four of his six starts and has a 1.10 WHIP and .227 batting average against in 40 innings this season. Price has a 68.7% strand rate this season, so he may be even better if his strand rate is closer to his career 74.3% strand rate, but Price has also walked nearly one more batter per inning in 2015 than in 2014 and he has 2.6 less strikeouts per nine this season than in 2014.
Gio Gonzalez masterful against the Mets
Gio Gonzalez has had a scattered record with the Nationals over the past couple seasons, but regained his ace form last night against the Mets; he pitched seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts and two walks. This was easily Gonzalez’s best performance of the season, as he pitched six shutout innings against the Cardinals on April 21, but walked four batters in that appearance. Gonzalez has 13 walks and 35 hits allowed this season in 30 1/3 innings and his 1.58 WHIP is not what owners expected from Gonzalez. Although he has a tendancy to walk batters, Gonzalez has a career .233 batting average against, a number which has risen to .297 this season. Gonzalez should be seen as an SP3 or SP4, especially since the Nationals have opened the season struggling to 11 wins in 25 games.
What to watch for
Michael Wacha looks to match Matt Harvey with a MLB-high five wins against the Pirates, while Sonny Gray, Johnny Cueto, and Trevor Bauer each bring sub-2.00 ERAs into their games today. The Astros also look to move their win streak to 10 games, as Roberto Hernandez looks to lead Houston to a series sweep against Seattle.
Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.