Two veteran starters who have gotten off to sluggish starts this season are set to take the mound Saturday night when the Kansas City Royals host the Houston Astros for the second game in their weekend series.
Houston left-hander Framber Valdez (1-2, 4.50 ERA) will seek his first victory since Opening Day, when he threw seven shutout innings in a 3-1 decision over the New York Mets. Since then, he’s allowed 14 earned runs over 21 innings in four appearances.
Kansas City right-hander Michael Wacha (0-3, 4.15) has yet to make it out of the sixth inning in his five starts. He will get the ball for the Royals, who will seek to extend their winning streak to six games and reach .500 for the first time in about two weeks.
Both starters could improve their standing as they face offenses that have struggled this season. Houston has 92 runs through 25 games. While Friday marked the first shutout loss for the team, by a 2-0 score, the Astros have scored two or fewer runs 11 times.
The Royals, meanwhile, have scored 86 times in 27 contests. They’re also hitting just .224, and their 12 home runs are the fewest in the majors.
The Royals’ Seth Lugo ended his personal three-game losing streak on Friday after he pitched eight innings of three-hit ball in the 2-0 win. He also finished with a season-high eight strikeouts.
Kansas City’s lineup has heated up of late. The Royals scored 13 runs on the Colorado Rockies in sweeping a doubleheader on Thursday. Salvador Perez, who had Friday off, had four doubles among his five hits in Thursday’s wins, with the catcher and designated hitter driving in four for the day.
On Friday, outfielder Drew Waters had a pair of doubles in three at-bats. He scored the first run of the night on a Kyle Isbel sacrifice fly after leading off the bottom of the fifth with a bloop double to left. Hunter Renfroe added a sacrifice fly an inning later.
Meanwhile, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has the majors’ best hitting streak at 17 games. Witt, last year’s American League batting champion, extended the streak Friday with a season-best three hits in four at-bats and is hitting .320 this season.
“Everyone’s out there doing their jobs,” Lugo told reporters after his win. “A couple sac(rifice) bunts today. One through nine, everybody in the lineup is doing something, and each pitcher, whether it’s bullpen covering the longer game or a starter pitching deep, it’s the whole team. So it’s a great clubhouse streak we got.”
Friday’s loss ended a three-game winning streak for Houston, which entered Kansas City having won five of its last six games.
Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena went 0-for-3 Friday to snap a 14-game hitting streak. Third baseman had two of Houston’s three hits on Friday and has hit safely in five of his last six games.
The three hits the Astros got off Lugo were the fewest they had in a game since the Los Angeles Angels held them to three in a 4-1 loss on April 12. However, Houston manager Joe Espada told MLB.com that luck played a factor in Friday’s loss.
“We hit some balls hard, but they were more lucky than we were,” Espada said. “That’s how baseball works. … I liked our at-bats. We grinded through against someone who had really good stuff.”
–Field Level Media
