Blanco bounces back in a big way as Astros beat Giants

SAN FRANCISCO -- Coming off a pair of gut-punch walk-off losses to the Angels and the Giants, the Astros got themselves back on track Tuesday night behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Ronel Blanco and some opportunistic at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Working with veteran catcher Victor Caratini for the first time in the regular season, Blanco went fastball-heavy, struck out eight batters and allowed one run in six innings, and the Astros’ bullpen was able to rebound and protect a two-run lead for a 3-1 win over the Giants at Oracle Park.

“It’s easy just to let that loss from last night just linger and drag you to game two [of the series], but this group just bounces back,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “They find ways to fight back, and that was a huge team win right there.”

Blanco (6-2), who had given up eight runs in 10 1/3 innings in losing his previous two starts, allowed only a third-inning homer to Brett Wisely, lowering his ERA to 2.67 through 12 starts. He threw 96 pitches and got 17 swing-and-misses, relying mostly on a four-seam fastball he threw 53% of the time. He typically mixes his pitches almost evenly between his four-seamer, slider and changeup.

“His fastball was really good today,” Espada said. “Some 94, 95 [mph] stunned some of their hitters. It looked like they were leaning soft on some counts and he was able to execute his fastball, and it opened up the door for some good sliders, also. We needed a good outing from Blanco and he gave us that.”

Blanco had thrown 75 pitches through five innings and struck out Wisely and Heliot Ramos to start the sixth. A two-out double by catcher Patrick Bailey prompted a mound visit from pitching coach Josh Miller, and Blanco responded by striking out Matt Chapman to end his night.

"He’s got good stuff,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “He throws hard. He throws an assortment of breaking balls. Just enough fastballs to keep you off the breaking stuff. He’s got a 2.60 ERA right now. We just couldn’t solve him. We couldn’t make him work hard enough. He ends up throwing six innings, only one walk, eight strikeouts. It was just tough to square him up."

The Astros’ bullpen, which blew two-run leads on Sunday in Anaheim and in Monday’s series opener in San Francisco, was able to shut the door this time. Tayler Scott, Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly each threw a scoreless inning, with Pressly picking up the save with Josh Hader unavailable.

Putting the ball in play
The Astros were only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday, which underscored the importance of putting the ball in play and forcing the Giants to make plays.

The first example came in the third inning when Jose Altuve reached out and poked a slider from Giants starter Jordan Hicks back up the middle for an RBI groundout that scored Mauricio Dubón from third base.

The pitch was 2.082 feet off the plate, which makes it the farthest-outside pitch Altuve has put in play in the pitch tracking era (2008-present).

“Jose Altuve magic,” Espada said. “I’ve been trying to figure out for the years that I’ve been watching him play. It’s just bat-to-ball skills. He’s unique. That’s what makes him great.”

Alex Bregman, who was on deck, said Bailey asked him how in the world Altuve was able to hit that ball when he followed Altuve to the batter’s box.

“That’s just what he does,” Bregman said with a smile.

And it was Bregman putting the ball in play with runners at second and third base and two outs in the fifth that pushed the go-ahead runs across. He hit a dribbler that Giants third baseman Matt Chapman fielded with his bare hand before making an errant throw to first. Trey Cabbage and Dubón both scored to put the Astros ahead, 3-1.

“Anything can happen when you put the ball in play, and we did that there with two outs,” Espada said. “You don’t see Chapman throwing many balls away, but we were fortunate enough that he threw one away.”