Boxscore Breakdown #71: Tight squeeze – Angels 4, Astros 3

The Angels earned a dose of hope for their up-and-down season, but doing so was a tight squeeze both figuratively and literally. The Halos didn’t generate much offense outside of two Albert Pujols dingers, but strong pitching seemingly was going to make that enough. That was until the bullpen faltered. Fortunately, that faltering included a game-tying double bouncing at just the right angle to hop over the outfield wall to become a ground-rule double instead of a go-ahead double.

To retake the lead, the Angels resorted to a literal squeeze, with a Daniel Robertson squeeze bunt to plate the game-winner. Of course, even that was oddly done as Robertson telegraphed the bunt attempt throughout the at-bat and Aybar never even broke for home until the ball was in play. It only worked because Robertson executed the bunt so well once he finally go it down.

Angels 4, Astros 3

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/12Bdsfr5JVmNfkm_hHXsIwXsE83zEjzm-FFj8PO8mrZY/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”389″ /] Obviously Albert Pujols had a good day, but it would’ve been better had he not gotten called out for having the audacity to allow his knee to come two centimeters, if that, off the bag while legging out a double. Erick Aybar chipped in nicely as well and generally seems to be taking better to vacating the leadoff role. Johnny Giavotella got the worst RE24 rate, but David Freese really had the ugliest game of the night, and one of his worst of the entire season.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/12Bdsfr5JVmNfkm_hHXsIwXsE83zEjzm-FFj8PO8mrZY/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] The Angels put the clamps on George Springer, which is no small feat. Domingo Santana had the solo homer, but the real problem child was Marwin Gonzalez. Oh, and Jose Altuve. Always Jose Altuve.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/12Bdsfr5JVmNfkm_hHXsIwXsE83zEjzm-FFj8PO8mrZY/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] In a battle of two overachieving lefties, Hector Santiago came out on top. He didn’t rack up the whiffs like one would expect against Houston, but he really only had the one bad half inning where he actually did a pretty impressive job of preventing things from imploding. Oberholtzer was hardly dominant, but he always seemed to get David Freese to hit a nubber right when he needed him to.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/12Bdsfr5JVmNfkm_hHXsIwXsE83zEjzm-FFj8PO8mrZY/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Joe Smith has been nearly untouchable for the last month, so go figure that he would cough up two runs on a night when the Angels are scraping to pick up a game on the division leader. Scioscia, unexpectedly but delightfully, clearly realized the weight of the situation by going to Huston Street for a four-out appearance. The Astros deployed most of their relievers, but it didn’t work for them, and that was good news for the Halos.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/12Bdsfr5JVmNfkm_hHXsIwXsE83zEjzm-FFj8PO8mrZY/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] Even when the Angels were down, they were hardly out. However, after that Altuve double, they teetered on the precipice of the abyss. Fortunately, they managed to recover via that Robertson safety squeeze.

Halo Hero

We’ve officially reached the point where I expect Pujols to hit a home run every single time he steps to the plate.