A person looking at a half empty glass would decry this victory margin, pointing at the Houston Astros' 4 errors, Jeremy Guthrie's relative wildness (3 walks), the unsettling bottom of the 9th, etc.
But seriously, it's Opening Day. Nobody should be looking at a half empty glass on Opening Day. Colorado outhit Houston 8-5, outstole (stealed?) them 3-0, and Troy Tulowitzki got himself an insurance run homer in the top of the 9th. New acquisitions Michael Cuddyer and Ramon Hernandez both had multi-hit games while Todd Helton had a 2B and knocked in a run.
Guthrie only allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings to get the win in his Rockies debut and Rafael Betancourt held on in the 9th for the save.
But the real story in this game was some of the sloppiest defensive play I've seen in a major league game by the Astros. Not only did they commit four errors, including the throwing error by Jason Castro when Eric Young Jr could have been cut down on the basepaths, but they also had a couple of really bad tags that helped the Rockies in a big way.
In the 3rd inning, Helton's two out double put the Rockies ahead 2-1...he really should have been out at second to end the inning, except 2B Jose Altuve ole'd the tag. Cuddyer immediately followed with a single that knocked in Helton. Secondly, in the 8th when Young pinch ran for Hernandez, he would have been caught stealing 2nd base if not for a tag by the SS Marwin Gonzalez in which Gonzalez picked up his glove from the ground, skipped over Young's front leg, and lightly tapped the back foot on the slide. Soon thereafter Young scored the go-ahead run.
Thanks for a season opening win Astros! Hopefully Colorado can continue to take advantage of the favorable situations Houston keeps handing to them.
Roll Call, etc. after the fold.
We Salute: EY2 (.178 WPA), Dexter Fowler (.146), Rex Brothers (.143)
We Are Disappointed In: Chris Nelson (-.130), Carlos Gonzalez (-.129)
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