Jason Castro Clobbers Texas Rangers; Houston Astros Win 4-2

The Texas Rangers are back in town and the continuation of the Lone Star Series commenced!

You know, Jason Castro needed this, he really needed this. After struggling for quite some time at the plate, he finally was able to get something going.

Not only that but he hit the eventual game-winner that catapulted the Houston Astros to their 57th victory of the season.

His .227 batting average is down from previous years considering that he finished 2013 batting .276 and 2012 batting .257.

It’s quite peculiar how he has fallen so fast but there’s no doubt he’s doing everything he can to get back in the groove.

The grand slam that he hit last night may be the start of something big, or just the start of something period.

It was the 2nd of his career…

It will be interesting to see as we head into the last month of the season how Castro responds to and how he faces head on the fight to avoid futility.

Regardless, last night, I was strongly encouraged that he’s reaching that point to where he can start to turn things around.

Let’s get to it…

The Texas Rangers did strike first and that was right at the top of order when Mike Carp went all GIDP on Jose Altuve — who turned it into a 4-6-3 play — scoring Leonys Martin and getting Elvis Andrus out at 2nd base. Rangers 1, Astros 0

At the top of the 3rd inning, Carp sac-flied to left scoring Robinson Chirinos with enough distance to advance Martin to 3rd base and Andrus to 2nd base. Rangers 2, Astros 0

And here’s where the Astros ran away with the win when Castro dealt the final blow, a TKO of sorts, causing the Rangers to never recover from such a punch all in one pop of the bat.

It was quite the narrative of what led up to that TKO as well…

It all started with Altuve singling to center, a Chris Carter walk advancing Altuve to 2nd base, warranting the Rangers to give Nick Tepesch the hook early.

The Astros trudged on despite the pitching change to Roman Mendez.

It was Dexter Fowler that officially loaded up the bases by grounding to 3rd — advancing Altuve and Carter to 3rd and 2nd base, respectively.

Tensions were high and Mendez just inherited himself into a jam with Fowler’s play.

So who was up next to bat?

CASTRO!

The count was two balls and no strikes; and, all of sudden, CRACK! A grand slam! He sent that baby flying out to right with pride off Mendez’s 96-mph, four-seam fastball scoring Altuve, Carter and Fowler. Astros 4, Rangers 2

Mendez seemed to give everything he had on that pitch and Castro just pulverized it!

Unlike Wednesday night’s game where they let it slip away, in this game, they took control and never wavered.