This story was originally published by Dead Spin
The Houston Astros are adding to their contributors as they’ve continued to make an August impact in the American League postseason picture.
Outfielder Ben Gamel, claimed off waivers from the New York Mets, is the latest player to give the Astros a boost.
The Astros will seek more from him, perhaps as soon as Friday night’s matchup with the host Baltimore Orioles.
Gamel had two two-out singles, driving in a run with both, in his Astros debut Thursday night to help the team to a 6-0 victory in the opener of the four-game series in Baltimore.
“Bat-to-ball skills have always been there,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s had some success against their starter (Corbin Burnes). … We were able to get some big hits with two outs.”
The Astros have won 12 of their last 15 games, while the Orioles have dropped five of their last seven.
The O’s managed just three hits Thursday as a trio of Houston pitchers shut them down.
“We did nothing offensively the whole night, only hit a couple balls hard,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Tough to win when you only get three hits.”
Burnes, the Baltimore ace, didn’t make it out of the sixth inning, suffering his second straight loss.
Outfielder/first baseman Ryan O’Hearn said the Orioles have plenty enough talent to snap out of the funk.
“We’ll get there. It’s ebbs and flows, a long season,” he said. “It has been a tough stretch, but I have a lot of confidence in our guys and our offense.”
The Astros will have right-hander Hunter Brown (11-7, 3.82 ERA) on the mound Friday night. He has had three strong starts in August, winning the past two against the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.
Brown lost both 2023 outings against Baltimore, allowing a total of 12 runs in 11 1/3 innings. In his first season in 2022, he pitched one shutout inning against the Orioles.
The Orioles will turn to rookie left-hander Cade Povich (1-6, 5.77 ERA). Povich has lost his last four starts, but he was solid in a career-high 6 1/3 innings against Boston on Saturday, giving up two runs on six hits without a walk and six strikeouts.
That was his first appearance in the majors since late July.
“Going down (to the minors) and working on some things and coming up here and executing that, definitely something to build off,” Povich said. “Just attacking the zone with everything, getting ahead early.”
The positive reaction from Baltimore fans as he left his most recent start was a special moment for Povich, so he “had the chills coming off a little bit,” he said.
The Orioles tweaked their roster for the beginning of the series. Pitchers Matt Bowman and Nick Vespi have been added along with infielder Emmanuel Rivera.
More concerns about player availability might surface in this series after first baseman Ryan Mountcastle left Thursday night’s game with a wrist injury suffered diving into a base.
For Houston, as a result of bringing Gamel on board, Trey Cabbage was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land.
–Field Level Media
