Part 7 of the season recap of the 2022 Astros
June 13-24
Record: 7-3
Overall Record: 44-26
AL West Position: 1st place by 10.5 games
AL Overall Position: 7.5 games behind NY for top seed
Game 61, June 13, 2022, Rangers 5, Astros 3
@ Home Depot
Attendance: 29,805
Record: 37-24
The Astros lost for a fifth time in six games, blowing a 3-1 lead by allowing four runs in the seventh and eighth innings to the Sisters of the Poor. Hector Neris pissed the bed, allowing three earned runs on 3 hits and a walk in one-third of an inning to ruin a quality start by Cristian Javier. He also threw a wild pitch in the inning. The Astros' offense was paced by Yordan Alvarez, who went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .315. Michael Brantley and Mauricio Dubon also had RBIs.
Game 62, June 14, 2022, Astros 4, Rangers 3
@ Home Depot
Attendance: 29,370
Record: 38-24
The Astros erupted for four runs in the top of the eighth inning to rally past the Rangers and back into the win column. After mustering just two hits in the first seven innings of the game, Houston came to life against John King in the top of the eighth. Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley greeted the reliever with back-to-back singles. Alex Bregman followed with a fielder's choice grounder to the left side of the infield where third baseman Ezequiel Duran decided to throw the ball into Garland instead of to first base. Altuve scored and Brantley took third with Bregman winding up at second. A Yordan Avarez groundout made it 3-2 as Brantley scored, and Kyle Tucker followed with a two-run bomb to get both himself and Bregman home with a 4-3 lead. Rafael Montero short-circuited a Ranger rally with a double play in the bottom of the eighth and Ryan Pressly gave up two hits but also got a double play to earn his 12th save in the ninth.
Game 63, June 15, 2022, Astros 9, Rangers 2
@ Home Depot
Attendance: 24,992
Record: 39-24
As the old saying goes, if you play them enough times, Rangers gonna Ranger. The good guys destroyed starting pitcher Tyson Miller for 6 earned runs in two-thirds of an inning to cruise to an easy win, as Luis Garcia pitched 6 innings and gave up two runs while striking out nine batters. The Astros started off the game with Jose Altuve getting hit by a pitch, Michael Brantley singling to left, a passed ball moving them both up 90 feet, and Alex Bregman walking to load the bases. Alvarez followed with a two-run double, and Kyle Tucker's groundout made it 3-0. After Aledmys Diaz walked, Jose Siri singled in Alvarez, and Martin Maldonado doubled in Diaz and Siri. Altuve actually got on base a second time in the inning with a walk before the side was retired. Machete continued his big day with a leadoff home run in the top of the fourth, and Yuli Gurriel hit a two-run jack in the eighth. Alvarez bumped his RBI total to 45, and Tucker to 39.
Game 64, June 17, 2022, Astros 13, White Sox 3
@ Minute Maid Park
Attendance: 35.467
Record: 40-24
The good times kept rolling with the team back at home, where the Astros broke a 3-3 tie with a 10-run sixth inning to reach the 40-win mark for 2022. The team got out to a 3- 0 lead on early home runs by Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel, but the White Sox tied it with a 3-run shot by AJ Pollock in the top of the third. After two scoreless innings, the Astros offense decided it was time to take a trip to crazy town. Alex Bregman led off with a walk, and scored on Yordan Alvarez's single to right thanks to a god-awful throwing error by Andrew Vaughn. Kyle Tucker followed with a double to right-center to score Alvarez and make it 5-3. Luca Giolito, who had pitched pretty well, followed by hitting Yuli Gurriel and giving up a single to Aledmys Diaz to load the bases and bring in reliever Matt Foster. He gave up an RBi single to Chas McCormick to make it 6-3, but looked like he was going to get out of trouble when he struck out Martin Maldonado and Jose Altuve back to back for the first two outs of the inning. That turned out to not be accurate when Michael Brantley belted a three-run homer to right field to make it 10-3. After Bregman walked again, Alvarez cranked a two-run homer to right to make it 13-2, and Tucker greeted the next reliever with another home run to make it 13-3. Framber Valdez got the win to improve to 7-3. Alvarez upped his average to .316 and hit his 18th home run of the year and pushed his RBI count to 47. Bregman reached base 3 times after plummeting to .211 in batting average earlier in the week. Brantley drove in four and upped his average to .302.
Game 65. June 18, 2022, White Sox 7, Astros 0
@ Minute Maid Park
Attendance: 36,747
Record: 40-25
Yours truly went to an Astros game for the first time in three years, and look what happened.
Justin Verlander had his worst start of the season, giving up 7 runs (only 4 earned) and nine hits in 3 and 2 thirds innings, and the offense got exactly three hits. That's all I've got to say about that.
Game 66, June 19, 2022, Astros 4, White Sox 3
@ Minute Maid Park
Attendance: 37,909
Record: 41-25
After the brutal loss on Saturday, the Astros turned to their two brightest offensive stars for guidance and were rewarded as J.J. Matijevic and Mauricio Duubon launched home runs for a 4-3 victory and a series win over the White Sox. Cristian Javier improved to 4-3, allowing 1 earned run on two hits in 5 innings. The only thing more unlikely than Dubon's homer with no out in the bottom of the fifth inning is that it scored Jason Castro, who had started the inning with a single down the right field line that would have been a double for anyone not named Jason Castro. The hit got Castro back over .100 with his average up to a scintillating .108. Hector Neris tried to blow it by giving up 2 runs in the eighth but the squad held on.
Game 67, June 21, 2022, Astros 8, Mets 2
@ Minute Maid Park
Attendance: 35,140
Record: 42-25
The best of the AL West and the best of the NL East hooked up and the Astros slapped the Mets around with a three-run third and a four-run fifth, making a winner of Jose Urquidy, who gave up 1 earned run in 6 innings. Yordan Alvarez launched his 19th home run of the year and raised his RBI total to 49. Kyle Tucker had a bases-loaded double to get his RBI count to 45 and also stole his 12th base of the year, and Jose Altuve blasted his 13th homer of the year. Seven of the Astros' nine starters had at least 1 hit.
Game 68, June 22, 2022, Astros 5, Mets 3
@ Minute Maid Park
Attendance: 35,415
Record: 43-25
The Astros roughed up Carlos Carrasco for four runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to home runs by Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez and held on for a 5-3 win. In the bottom of the first, Jose Atluve led off with a walk and scored on Michael Brantlet's double to deep center. Bregman hit a two-run homer down the left field line to make it 3-0, and Alvarez homered to deep right center to make it 4-0. LuAce got the win with 3 earned runs allowed in 5 innings, and the Astros' bullpen allowed just 3 base runners over the final 4 frames.
Game 69, June 23, 2022, Yankees 7, Astros 6
@ Yankee Stadium
Attendance: 44,071
Record: 43-26
The Yankees stung Ryan Pressly for four runs in the bottom of the ninth to overcome a 6-3 deficit, defeating the team that had knocked them out of the post-season three times since 2015. "That breaks the curse!" declared manager Aaron Boone. "A win in late June is equivalent to October. We're unstoppable now!" The Yankees improved to 52-18 with the victory. Down 6-3 late, the Yankees tied things up with a three-run bomb by Aaron Hicks off of Pressly. After he proceeded to allow two more runners, Ryne Stanek replaced Pressly, struck out the legendary Joey Gallo, but then walked DJ leMathieu and gave up the walkoff single to Aaron Judge to watch it slip away. Each team scored three runs in the first inning, and the Astros added three in the top of the third. Yordan Alvarez went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and his 22nd home run, upping his average on the year to .317 and his OPS to 1.071. Alex Bregman also hit a bomb, his ninth. Joey Gallo was superb, 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts.
Game 70, June 24, 2022, Astros 3, Yankees 1
@ Yankee Stadium
Attendance: 47,528
Record: 44-26
Justin Verlander and two unlikely bullpen mates mastered the Yankees to the tune of 1 run allowed on 5 hits to even the series at 1-1. Verlander moved to 9-3 with 7 innings pitched, lowering his ERA to 2.22. After six scoreless innings, Kyle Tucker put the Astros in front with a three-run homer that scored Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. Aaron Judge was 0-for-4 in defeat. After the previous day's bullpen blowup, Dusty Baker gave Phil Maton the eighth and Rafael Montero the ninth.
