What a busy day for Houston Astros pitcher Brett Oberholtzer! And not in a good way!
Oberholtzer, who broke in with the Astros in 2013, was today's starting pitcher for Houston versus the New York Yankees and he did not pitch well to say the least.
From the beginning, one could tell the left hander did not have his control as he started the game with two balls before grooving a pitch to Brett Gardner for a double. Although three pitches does not necessarly define a game, tonight it did as Oberholtzer walked Chris Young and Alex Rodriguez to load the bases for Brian McCann. After missing the strike zone with a cut fastball, the right hander threw a curveball that dropped right into the middle of the strike zone. CRACK! Goodbye! Brian McCann blasted the offering to the upper deck of the right field bleachers for his twelve home run of the season and his eleventh career grand slam.
Although Oberholtzer walked Carlos Beltran after McCann's grand slam, he settled down by getting Chase Headley to strike out looking and Didi Gregorious to fly out to end the horrific inning. Unfortunately for the Delaware native, his bad night was far from being over.
The top of the second inning started out much better than the first as Oberholtzer retired Jose Peirela, but then the wound from the prior inning was reopened by another Brett Gardner double. If Brett Gardner reopened the wound with his two-bagger, then Chris Young made it bleed profusely with a rocket off the bat that landed in the left field seats to improve New York's advantage to 6-0.
Off the bat, Oberholtzer knew not only McCann's ball was gone but Young's as well and with all of his frustration from Saturday night he threw an eighty-nine miles per hour fastball inside at Alex Rodriguez. Despite Rodriguez getting out of the way of the pitch, Oberholtzer was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Rob Drake.
When the roughed up pitcher arrived in the dugout he fired his glove against the wall behind the bench and took a seat by himself. His night was over or so everyone thought.
"We don't operate that way, we won't operate that way."
-Houston Astros' Manager A.J. Hinch
As soon as the twenty-seventh out was recorded and the New York Yankees troted out onto the field victorious, Brett Oberholtzer was on his way to Triple-A Fresno. When asked whether the inside pitch and ejection resulted in Oberholtzer being demoted, Astros' Skipper A.J. Hinch said "it's a little bit of everything" as the Astros "got put in a tough spot" since four relievers were used.
Tomorrow Hinch will start 8-3 Collin McHugh against New York's 8-4 Michael Pineda as the Astros look to end their two game skid and salvage a four-game series split against the Yankees.
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