May 13: Astros Clear Major Hurdle, Mariners' Pitching Woes Reach Level of Ridiculous, Advantage: Rangers In Last Place Avoidance Series

Technically, there is still a race in the American League West, but it feels like its all theater, now. The Astros cleared a major hurdle by winning a tough game on the road with someone other than Dallas Kuechel pitching. The Mariners lost to the Blue Jays and also lost Hisashi Iwakuma. The Angels proved how tightly packed the sub.-.500 group is by rocketing to second place with one victory. The Athletics ended up on the wrong end of a walkoff game, this time. Click Keep Reading for notes, boxes and links.

Astros (25-11)

Lance McCullers Jr. looked like an ace out there last night, mixing pitches, keeping the Yankees off balance and throwing a shut out through 6 innings.  Brian McCann hit a three-run homer against his former club, adding insult to the Yankees' injuries. The Astros have won five in a row with the 5-1 victory.

The box. 

McCann truly enjoys the short porch in right field at Yankees Stadium.

Angels (18-20)

The Halos shut out the Tigers 7-0 at Angel Stadium, with Matt Shoemaker pitching six scoreless innings and Mike Trout hitting his longest home run of the season. Every Angels hitter in the starting lineup got on base against the Tigers Jordan Zimmerman, who had a night to forget. The four-game series is now evened up.

The box.

Here's basically an optimist's guide to the Angels 2017 season so far.

Mariners (17-19)

The Mariners took care of a struggling Phillies club earlier in the week, but a struggling Blue Jays club hasn't looked so struggle-ish in taking the first two games of a four-game series from the Mariners. In last night's 4-0 loss, the Mariners put Christian Bergman on the mound - he gave up three runs in five innings.  That's not bad, but not going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position is.

The box.

The injuries to the Mariners rotation has reached the point of ridiculous. Four of the five pitchers expected to be part of the starting rotation are out: Hisashi Iwakuma, Felix Hernandez, James Paxton and Drew Smyly. 

 Rangers (17-20)

 Out of last place! The Rangers beat the A's in the first of a three-game set, which is likely going to end with the series loser at the bottom of the standings. The Rangers trailed going into the 9th, but Joey Gallo hit a three-run shot to win the game - the second night in a row for the Rangers to do that. Andrew Cashner pitched a good game, giving up just one run in six innings, but has yet to earn a victory this season (yet another example of how pitching wins are a terrible way to judge a pitcher).

The box.

Should the A's have pitched to Gallo?

Athletics (16-19)

The road woes continue for the A's, who now have a 5-11 record in other club's parks. They got a great start from Jesse Hahn (one run in seven innings) and led the game going into the 9th - but Santiago Casilla could not close the door.  In fact, he opened it really, really wide (4 runs). And yet...they are just a half-game out of second place in the AL West sub-.500 scrum.

The box.

The San Jose Mercury-News ask: Is the A's offense even worse than everyone thinks it is? Answer: Yeah, probably.



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