Looking to put in a performance with some better command and continue his breakout, Hurston Waldrep faced Yordan Alvarez and the Astros.
The first couple innings went well, as he allowed only a single to Victor Caratini, who was cut down by a great throw from Ronald Acuna as he was trying to stretch it to a double.
The Braves’ offense didn’t have any more success than the Astros through two and the Astros broke through in the third on a leadoff walk and a monster homer to take a 2-0 lead. Waldrep got some help from a spectacular play by Nacho at third to finish the inning with just the two runs.
The Astros scored another two in the fourth on four singles, the first of which had a .180 xBA. Waldrep struggled with command in the fifth a little, issuing a walk and hitting a batter, but was absolutely eviscerated by BABIP, as two singles ended his outing and then another three singles against Dane Dunning hung another two runs around his neck. of the five Houston singles in the fifth, only one was hit over 100 MPH and only two had an xBA of above .500 (.530 and .580). It was simply horrendous BABIP. Hurston ended his outing with 4.2 innings pitches, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks, and 10 whiffs, with one home run allowed on 84 pitches thrown. Honestly, I’m inclined to call it a fine outing from Hurston. He didn’t give up a ton of hard-hit balls, he recorded a respectable amount of strikeouts and walks, and he only allowed the one homer. He simply suffered from excruciating BABIP luck. As of the middle of the fifth inning, the Astros had 11 hits and 10 runs on .317 xBA as a team and the Braves had 2 hits on .305 xBA, although the Astros did have two walks to Atlanta’s none.
Dane Dunning continued to get shelled in the sixth, giving up a solo homer to Jose Altuve for Houston’s 11th run. Blessedly, Ronald Acuna hit his first homer in about three weeks to get Atlanta on the board in the sixth.
Eli White brought home Jurickson Profar in the eighth with a two run homer, but the Braves were nowhere near tying the game.
