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Wednesday night in Houston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros closed out a two-game series that featured fireworks in the opener Tuesday night. Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly received an eight-game suspension (pending appeal) for deliberately throwing at Carlos Correa and other Astros players. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was suspended one game as well.
The series finale was largely drama-free Wednesday. No brushback pitches, no beanballs, no benches-clearing incidents. Rather, we were treated to a pitchers' duel featuring two rookie starters in Cristian Javier and Dustin May. The game went to extra innings tied 1-1 and the new tiebreaker rule was needed to declare a winner.
In the 13th inning Dodgers reserve Edwin Rios put his club ahead with a go-ahead two-run home run. That came after the two teams went scoreless in the 10th, scored one run each in the 11th, and went scoreless again in the 12th. Los Angeles held on to win the game 4-2 (box score).
Wednesday's game was the sixth extra innings game of the young season and the first that went beyond 11 innings. Since adopting the tiebreaker rule -- when a runner starts the inning on second base -- in 2018, only seven percent of minor league extra-inning games extended beyond the 11th inning. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen every once in a while.
The two-game series in Houston is over and any bad blood remaining from Tuesday's incident will have to wait until the Astros visit Los Angeles for a two-game series from Sept. 12-13. Here are three takeaways from Wednesday's game.
Javier is excellent in first MLB start
The Astros lost ace Justin Verlander to a forearm injury over the weekend and his season may be over. For now, Verlander will be shut down a few weeks, then reevaluated. Stepping into his vacated rotation spot was rookie righty Cristian Javier, who MLB.com ranks as Houston's No. 6 prospect. Their scouting report says "his deception and creativity could make him a No. 4 starter."
Javier was much better than a No. 4 starter Wednesday night. The 23-year-old held the powerful Dodgers lineup to one run in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed only two hits and struck out eight.
Astros manager Dusty Baker pushed Javier -- he threw 82 pitches and his velocity dipped into the 90-91 mph range in the sixth inning after sitting 94-95 mph in the early innings -- and was rewarded with a strong outing. Javier tossed a scoreless inning in relief in his MLB debut on Saturday. Wednesday was his first MLB start and only his third start above Double-A.
The Astros have been hard by pitching injuries early this season, so much so that they're set to sign 43-year-old Fernando Rodney out of an independent league to help the bullpen. Javier presumably did more than enough to earn another start Wednesday night. Jose Urquidy is still a ways away from rejoining the team. Might as well keep running Javier out there in the interim.
Seager stinging the ball early on
In his return from Tommy John surgery last season, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager authored a .272/.335/.483 batting line that is both very good and comfortably below the .302/.370/.497 line he managed when healthy from 2016-17. That first year back from Tommy John surgery can be tough, even for position players.
Few players in baseball have been more locked in than Seager in the early going this season. He went 7 for 20 (.350) with only one strikeout in his first five games and he was hitting everything hard. His 96.8 mph average exit velocity put him among the top five percent in the league. Also, weirdly, Seager was averaging only 2.83 pitches per plate appearance, third-fewest in baseball.
On Wednesday, Seager continued his torrid start with a second inning solo home run against Javier. To the action video:
It feels like Seager has been around forever -- it does to me, anyway -- but he turned only 26 in April. He's about to entire what figures to be the prime of his career. The Dodgers are absolutely loaded, especially offensively, and getting the best possible version of Seager this year would make them even more formidable come postseason time.
Betts snaps out of slump
Several star players around the league have started the season slowly. It happens. The season is young and they'll figure it out before long. A handful of those players were on the field at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night. Here's what they were doing going into the contest:
- Mookie Betts, Dodgers: 5 for 24 (.208)
- Jose Altuve, Astros: 4 for 18 (.222)
- Alex Bregman, Astros: 4 for 18 (.222)
Furthermore, George Springer (1 for 20) was on the bench Wednesday night because Baker wanted to give him a "clear your head day," according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The sheers numbers tell us a few big-name players will start slowly each year and this season is no different.
The early season slumps continued for the Astros. Altuve and Bregman both went 0 for 5, dropping them to 8 for 46 (.174) on the season combined. They each failed to drive in the winning run in the 12th (to be fair, Altuve walked). The slumps won't continue, they're way too talented, but that doesn't make them any less frustrating to sit through as an Astros fan.
Betts, meanwhile, broke out of his early-season skid Wednesday. He went hitless in his first four at-bats before drilling a go-ahead double to left field in the 11th inning. The bullpen could not hold that lead, but that's not Mookie's fault.
Betts started last season in a 5 for 23 (.217) skid and he started his MVP season in 2018 in a 2 for 11 (.182) rut. This is not the first time he's had a tough week to begin a new season and I doubt it'll be the last. If his 11th inning double is any indication, Betts is about ready to start putting up his typically big numbers for the Dodgers.
