Cure for The Astros Cold Bats? Go Play The Arlington Rangers

Don't panic Houston, there's 158 games left in the regular season for the Houston Astros.

The Astros couldn't leave Tampa Bay quick enough after dropping three straight games to the Rays following a win on Opening Day. The team managed to only score four runs in the last three games. George Springer, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman all hit dingers in the series but also combined to hit a not so attractive 8-34. Also, Houston attempted to swipe five bags but were thrown out four of those times. Bregman noted, "My at-bats have been horrible. we just have to put together a little better quality of at-bat, myself especially." We know you guys will Breggy.

Some bright spots on the offensive side were the at-bats of Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick. Brantley went 5-12 with a double, home run and three RBI. The balls he hit were hammered and I will continue to say the signing of him will go down as one of the most underrated signings of the 2019 off-season. Yes, we know "if he stays healthy" blah blah blah. Brantley will quietly hit over .300 this season, maybe higher. Reddick went 3-10 with all singles but the most important part to remember about those three hits were they were to the opposite field. If you remember, Reddick struggled last season at times because he became "pull happy". Going forward, if Reddick continues with the same approach, look for him to return to 2017 Josh Reddick. Carlos Correa also returned to the line-up after missing the first three games with a stiff neck.

Justin Verlander dominated in his outing, Gerrit Cole pitched well but ran into some bad luck with a few defensive errors, Collin McHugh looked good in his 5.0 IP and Wade Miley battled through 6.0 IP. Overall, the first four starters went a combined 24.0 IP, with 32 K and issued 7 ER.

Now that we've recapped the opening series, what will be the cure to wake up the bats for the Astros? A trip to take on the Arlington Rangers.

Over the last two seasons, the Astros have claimed The Silver Boot Series winning in both 2017 and 2018 with records of 12-7 each season over the Rangers. The offense also fairs well over the last two years scoring 97 runs to the Rangers' 73 runs in 2017 and 118 runs to 83 runs in 2018. Arlington just took two out of three from the Chicago Cubs scoring 23 runs but also surrendering 28 runs. That's a lot of runs but that wasn't against Brad Peacock, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole whom the Rangers will face this series.

Peacock will make his first start tonight from Arlington. First pitch is slated for 7:05pm and you can catch every inning on 790AM.

Houston Astros v Tampa Bay Rays

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