JOSE URQUIDY

Astros starters Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia look like naturals on the mound, but they've gotten an artificial boost from the barber shop.

Astros reliever Phil Maton says he broke his right pinkie when he punched a locker in frustration after Houston’s regular-season finale and will miss the postseason.

Hey guys it’s Ari Alexander, We made it! 162 got played, even if it started late. Let’s run through some notes in the last regular season newsletter. After this week, it gets (more) intense!

Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Kyle Schwarber homered twice as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first playoff berth in 11 years with a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros Monday night.

Hey guys, it’s Ari Alexander and we’re closing down the season with a loooong homestand. 8 straight games at home so if you don’t have playoff tickets, it’s a perfect time to see the Astros at Minute Maid for the last time this season. Of course since the playoffs are looming, let’s cover a few playoff topics including roster construction, the #4 starter and potential matchups.

Mike Trout homered in his sixth straight game to set an Angels franchise record, Shohei Ohtani threw five solid innings before exiting because of a blister and Los Angeles beat the Houston Astros 6-1.

Rookie Kyle Bradish pitched a gem, throwing eight strong innings before two relievers completed the four-hitter to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros.

Cristian Javier threw six shutout innings, Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer and the Houston Astros swept the Oakland Athletics with a 6-3 win.

Aledmys Díaz hit a grand slam as the Houston Astros roughed up Martín Pérez and rallied past the Texas Rangers 7-5.

Andrew Vaughn had a two-run home run among his three hits, Luis Robert hit a two-run double, and AJ Pollock had two doubles in a three-hit game as the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 to split a four-game series.

Trey Mancini homered in his first start for Houston to back a sterling performance by Jose Urquidy, and the Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1.

The Houston Astros ended the Seattle Mariners’ winning streak at 14 games, with Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez homering in a 5-2 victory.

The All-Star Game suits Dusty Baker — or more precisely, his coaching staff.

Skye Bolt homered with a career-high three RBIs, Cole Irvin pitched six sharp innings and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 5-1.

Giancarlo Stanton homered against Houston’s José Urquidy with one out in the seventh inning, ending the New York Yankees’ hitless drought at 16 1/3 innings and spoiling the Astros’ efforts to throw a second consecutive no-hitter in the Bronx.

Justin Verlander turned in another solid start, and Alex Bregman had three hits and three RBIs and the Houston Astros completed a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 7-2 win.

Kyle Tucker hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 3-2.

Matt Chapman doubled home Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with two outs in the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros 4-3 for their third straight win.

Houston’s pitching staff will need to adjust quickly after allowing 25 runs and 32 hits to Boston in the first three games of the AL Championship Series, a barrage that made the loss of injured Lance McCullers Jr. seem acute.

The first game in Boston wasn't too much different than the last one in Houston, with the Astros giving up runs early on the way to a blowout loss.

The Dodgers are ready to start ace Max Scherzer in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series against Atlanta, a day after manager Dave Roberts scratched the veteran right-hander to get him an extra day of rest.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 45th homer in the eighth inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 10-5 loss to the Houston Astros.

Jake Meyers and Marwin Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in a three-run second inning, Kyle Tucker had a home run among his three hits, and Jose Urquidy allowed one run and two hits in six innings for his seventh win of the season as the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 7-2.

Rookie right-hander Logan Gilbert and four relievers combined to shut out Houston for the second straight day and J.

Ty France tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth inning and put the Seattle Mariners on top with an RBI single in the 11th before Kyle Seager belted a three-run homer in a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Rookie Taylor Jones had a career-high four RBIs and finished a single shy of the cycle, and Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homer as the Houston Astros routed the Seattle Mariners for the second straight game, 15-1.

Aledmys Díaz singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3, avoiding a four-game sweep.

Yordan Alvarez snapped an 0-for-22 slump with a two-run homer to help the Houston Astros to a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

Two star Astros players are teaming up with Kroger to help steer vaccinations to Houston’s underserved areas.

Jose Altuve homered for the fourth time in three games, Michael Brantley and Abraham Toro also connected, and the Houston Astros beat the Chicago White Sox 10-2.

Jose Altuve homered twice and made major league history by hitting a leadoff homer one game after belting a walk-off grand slam to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers.

Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez homered to back Framber Valdez, and the Houston Astros ended Boston’s five-game winning streak, beating the Red Sox 7-1.

Framber Valdez pitched seven strong innings and Kyle Tucker had two hits as the Houston Astros handed Nick Pivetta his first loss of the season in a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.

Kyle Tucker had a season-best three hits and tied a career high with four RBIs as the Houston Astros beat former bench coach Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox 11-2.

Kyle Tucker had a season-best three hits and tied a career high with four RBIs as the Houston Astros beat former bench coach Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox 11-2.

The Padres will certainly be tested in the coming weeks with series against the Brewers, Astros, Cubs and Mets.

Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker each homered to help Luis Garcia earn his first career win as the Houston Astros held on to beat the Texas Rangers 6-5 for their fifth straight win.

Jose Urquidy scattered four hits over seven shutout innings and the Houston Astros made an early lead stand up, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1.

Shohei Ohtani’s tiebreaking solo home run in the eighth inning helped the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros to snap a four-game skid.

Ty France hit a game-ending single in the ninth inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the depleted Houston Astros 6-5.

The 2018 AL Rookie of the Year is off to a strong start this spring on both sides. PHILLIES 3, PIRATES 0Bryce Harper homered on his first swing of spring training, launching a opposite-field drive to left. Chad Kuhl made his second start for Pittsburgh, allowing two runs on three hits. Brad Keller worked three innings in the start for the Royals and allowed a run on four hits and two walks. BRAVES 4, TWINS 0 (7)Kyle Wright fared much better in his second start for Atlanta, allowing one hit in three shutout innings with two strikeouts.

It was not known whether the eight pitchers had tested positive for the virus or had come in close contact with someone who had tested positive. Earlier this week, the Astros lost starter Framber Valdez when he suffered a broken left finger while fielding a ball in an exhibition game. They list 23 pitchers on their 40-man roster, plus 16 more nonroster pitchers in camp. Nineteen big league players and six staff have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of spring training, a positive rate of 0.07% among 34,541 tests. All players on 40-man rosters and players with minor league contracts invited to big league training camp are screened.

I’m sure he’ll do that.”The Astros have also had a lousy go with runners on base. THE KID AND THE ACEOff to an impressive start in his first postseason, rookie Ian Anderson tries to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series when he faces Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw. CHANGE OF SOXAfter ending a 12-year playoff drought, the Chicago White Sox are looking for a new manager. The club announced Monday that Renteria won’t return after guiding the White Sox to a 35-25 record in his pandemic-shortened fourth season. Hahn said Renteria’s replacement probably will come from outside the White Sox.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)A look at what's happening around the majors on Wednesday:STANTON'S STREAKYankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton has homered in all four of the team's postseason games this year. The two-time NL home run champion is from the Los Angeles area and says “that SoCal air" is helping the ball fly. If the Dodgers advance to the NL Championship Series or World Series, fans will be allowed at those games. “At this point I think we’ve grown accustomed to it.”Alcantara insisted he didn’t intend to hit Acuña and that Miami’s game plan is simply to pitch inside to him. Springer’s 17 postseason homers tied Nelson Cruz and Jim Thome for most through a player’s first 54 postseason games.

Houston Astros' Carlos Correa, left, and George Springer celebrate after the Astros defeated the Oakland Athletics in Game 2 of a baseball American League Division Series in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. The Houston Astros can't miss these days. “With every victory, the energy and the confidence grows,” first-year Houston manager Dusty Baker said. Five of Springer’s postseason homers have come at Dodger Stadium, where the Astros beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. The scandal led to season-long suspensions of Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, who both were fired.

"But what are they going to say now?”Nine months after Houston's rules-breaking, sign-stealing system was revealed, the Astros advanced to the Division Series in Los Angeles. The Twins are 0-18 in the playoffs since winning Game 1 of their Division Series at the New York Yankees on Oct. 5, 2004, a total of seven rounds lost. Since that date, the Astros are 43-35 in postseason play, winning 10 of 15 rounds with three trips to the World Series. In a three-game division series sweep by the Yankees last year, the Twins totaled seven runs and 22 hits. Baldelli declined to confirm whether Buxton was experiencing a recurrence of concussion symptoms that kept him out of the last two regular season games.

A capsule look at the best-of-three playoff series between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis beginning Tuesday:___HOUSTON ASTROSRecord: 29-31. Projected Rotation: RHP Zack Greinke (3-3, 4.03 ERA, 67 Ks), RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 3.93, 56 Ks), RHP Jose Urquidy (1-1, 2.73, 17 Ks) or LHP Framber Valdez (5-3, 3.57, 76 Ks) or RHP Cristian Javier (5-2, 3.48, 54 Ks.) Manager: Rocco Baldelli (second season). Projected Rotation: RHP Kenta Maeda (6-1, 2.70 ERA, 80 Ks), RHP José Berríos (5-4, 4.00, 68 Ks), RHP Michael Pineda (2-0, 3.38, 25 Ks in 5 starts). Series Summary: The Twins haven’t won a playoff series since 2002, failing to advance in eight consecutive rounds.

(AP) – Alex Bregman’s three extra-base hits included one of Houston’s four home runs, and the Astros trimmed their magic number to one for clinching the American League’s last playoff spot with a 12-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. Josh Reddick also had three hits, capped by a two-run homer in the ninth. The Astros (29-28) have to win only one of their three remaining games against Texas to secure second place in the AL West, and a spot in baseball’s expanded playoff during the pandemic-shortened season. He held the Rangers without a run until Willie Calhoun's two-run homer in the sixth. Bregman, Springer, Altuve and Reddick have been mainstays for the Astros in their recent playoff runs, including the 2017 World Series title and another AL pennant last year.

HOUSTON – For two months, the Astros hoped they would get Justin Verlander back to lead the team through the playoffs. Now the team’s ace will be Zack Greinke for the playoffs with a patchwork of young and recently-injured pitchers to finish out the season. Here’s a look at who the Astros have left in their rotation. The veteran got his ERA as low as 1.84 before giving up at least three runs or more in his past six starts. He will likely be the Astros #3 starter in the playoffs if he’s healthy.

One out later, Adell lined a two-run single to right off Enoli Paredes (1-2) for his first game-ending hit. Kyle Tucker homered and drove in three runs for the Astros, who lost in walk-off fashion for the second straight game. With two outs and runners on second and third, Martin Maldonado hit a two-run single to right-center. After Yuli Gurriel's two-run single in the third, Tucker extended the lead to 4-1 with a run-scoring infield single. It is the seventh game to start with triple-digit temperatures since the ballpark opened in 1966.

PHOENIX Kole Calhoun lined a two-run single in the ninth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Houston Astros 5-4 Thursday night to win their first series of the season. ROSTER MOVESArizona designated INF Ildemaro Vargas for assignment and optioned RHP Yoan Lopez to its alternate training site to get its active roster down to 28. The Astros got down to the 28-player limit by optioning RHP Bryan Abreu and INF Jack Mayfield to their alternate training site. TRAINING TABLEAstros: Reigning AL rookie of the year Yordan Alvarez took batting practice and did some running at the team's alternate training site. Diamondbacks: RHP Luke Weaver (0-2, 14.73) looks to get his shaky start to the 2020 season on track in Arizona's series opener against San Diego on Friday.

From there, the Houston Astros Circle of Trust was born, with a hat tip to Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents ....Now, in that movie, the Circle of Trust was the foundation of a (weird and dysfunctional) relationship between father and son in law. Hence, throughout the ALCS and early World Series, Chirinos was OUT of the Circle of Trust. So, with Game 6 looming tonight, who are the players in my Astros Circle of Trust? OUTFIELDERGeorge SpringerSpringer, like Bregman, is in "just behind Altuve immunity" status, All Springer does in the World Series is hit home runs! THE YORDAN CATEGORYYordan AlvarezNo everyday player's CoT journey has been more volatile than that of young Alvarez.

8-1 win to tie the #WorldSeries2019 #TakeItBack Greg Bailey (@GregBailey13) October 27, 2019EMBED >More News Videos Mattress Mack said he's still expecting to distribute lots of free mattresses after the World Series. Brantley followed Altuve's footsteps with a blooper to centerfield.Bregman continued the Astros' momentum with a line-drive single to left field that brought Altuve home to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Marisnick successfully stole second base in the midst of Springer's at-bat. It led to Bregman completely silencing Nationals park with a grand slam that was rocked near the left field pole to extend the Astros lead to 8-1. A strikeout from Tucker ended the Astros' monstrous inning.Hector Rondon entered in the seventh, and Victor Robles reached base on a single with one out.

Chirinos HR and Bregman slam, plus gutty bullpen and a little #Astros defense. 8-1 win to tie the #WorldSeries2019 #TakeItBack Greg Bailey (@GregBailey13) October 27, 2019EMBED >More News Videos Mattress Mack said he's still expecting to distribute lots of free mattresses after the World Series. Brantley followed Altuve's footsteps with a blooper to centerfield.Bregman continued the Astros' momentum with a line-drive single to left field that brought Altuve home to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Marisnick successfully stole second base in the midst of Springer's at-bat. It led to Bregman completely silencing Nationals park with a grand slam that was rocked near the left field pole to extend the Astros lead to 8-1.

With Game 4 essentially being another do-or-die game for the Astros, A.J. Brantley followed Altuve's footsteps with a blooper to centerfield.Bregman continued the Astros' momentum with a line-drive single to left field that brought Altuve home to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Marisnick successfully stole second base in the midst of Springer's at-bat. It led to Bregman completely silencing Nationals park with a grand slam that was rocked near the left field pole to extend the Astros lead to 8-1. It was just the second grand slam in Astros postseason history.Gurriel, Correa and Marisnick were all walked in the seventh and it was the fifth walk of the seventh.

They took Game 3 to gain new life in this World Series. Top keys to Astros Game 4 victoryQuality innings for Jose UrquidyIt is back to a bullpen game for the Astros, like Game 6, of the ALCS. Hard to do that night after night but Urquidy will need to avoid mistakes or they will hurt you. Playing on the road, it's vital today that the Astros play clean baseball like they did in Game 3. Check this box and let the offense and pitchers do the rest of the work to try and make it back-to-back wins and even this World Series 2-2.