Boxscore Breakdown #12: BOO-tera – Astros 4, Angels 3

Oh, Drew Butera, you just made a mess didn’t you. This was supposed to be a feelgood game with Garrett Richards making his return. But you had to go and throw all those good feelings away by throwing away the ball. You could’ve just better blocked the third strike that got away from you. You could’ve thrown the ball to the outside of the bad like you were supposed to. If you’d done either of those things, it would’ve saved two runs and possibly given the Angels the win.

Astros 4, Angels 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1yVpTFoHHOxE8RiJIQt9HSgrxIePRGQTvzZ9Fi869xsU/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Another weak offensive showing for the Angels. They had the two homers, but not much else as the didn’t even draw a walk the entire day. Nobody was particularly bad, but nobody really did to kickstart the offense either.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1yVpTFoHHOxE8RiJIQt9HSgrxIePRGQTvzZ9Fi869xsU/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] Richards doesn’t give up many homers, but Luis Valbuena got him early. He also drew two walks and swiped a base, so he had himself a day. Jose Altuve had another multi-hit game as he continues to plague the Angels, but at least they managed to catch him stealing.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1yVpTFoHHOxE8RiJIQt9HSgrxIePRGQTvzZ9Fi869xsU/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Garrett Richards wasn’t real sharp in his return to the mound, but he showed enough flashes during the start to allay a lot of concerns. It certainly didn’t help that his defense let him down in the fifth inning and decided to force Garrett to get five out that inning. Scott Feldman was slow and steady and won the race.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1yVpTFoHHOxE8RiJIQt9HSgrxIePRGQTvzZ9Fi869xsU/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] It was another mix-and-match day for the Angels bullpen and they did a fine job of keeping the game in check. The Astros bullpen rated better than the Angels even though they coughed up a homer and had a to dance out of a tight spot in the seventh.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1yVpTFoHHOxE8RiJIQt9HSgrxIePRGQTvzZ9Fi869xsU/pubchart” query=”oid=41272350&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”315″ /] The Valbuena homer put the Angels in a hole but then Cron dug them out of it with his homer in that weird at-bat. They then tripped in fell right back in that hole when Butera made his error. The Angels were fresh out of comebacks by that point.

Halo A-Hole

BOOOO!-tera.