Astros hold the record of lowest opponent average of .185 in a single month of all time in MLB history in the month of August.
After acquiring Yusei Kikuchi a day before the trade deadline, the Astros made the right decision acquiring the Japan native who improved his ERA to 2.57. Yusei Kikuchi shuts down the Kansas City Royals in superb style, delivering 12 strike outs in the 7 innings he pitched.
Kikuchi only allowed 5 hits and only 1 lucky earned run, throwing 101 pitches and 0 walks. He was relieved in the 8th inning by RHP Hector Neris who the Astros recently just signed the previous week on the 24th. Neris allowed 1 run to be scored on him by Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who hit his 29th homerun of the season off Neris.
The 6th inning was where the Astros took over, scoring 5 runs in the inning. The first 2 runs came from Yainer Diaz after hitting a two run single off Royals LHP Cole Ragans.
Afterwards, Jeremy Pena delivered 2 more runs for the Astros after hitting a two run triple, thus later scoring again off of a wild pitch missed by Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez, allowing Pena to steal home. This inning ended up being the last one for Ragans to pitch for tonight, striking out 10 Astros hitters.
Johnny Cash’s voice rang throughout Minute Maid Park, which let everyone know that it was time to put Kansas City out of its misery. Ryan Pressly walked out ready with a mission and of course closed the game off in perfect fashion, allowing not a single hit for his third save of the season.
