Astros fans react following shocking loss to AL Central bottom dwellers - "We make terrible teams look incredible"
The Houston Astros suffered another humiliating loss to a bottom team as they fell to the Kansas City Royals on the road. The Astros lost 2-4 in a lackluster offensive display failing to capitalize when mattered.
For the Astros, starter Cristian Javier suffered only his fourth loss of the season. Javier (9-4) went five innings, earning three runs including two home runs. He walked a single batter and got six Ks. Nelson Velasquez and Bobby Witt Jr. homered in successive frames in the fourth and fifth to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.
Yordan Alvarez got an RBI double in the sixth that scored Jeremy Pena who had a leadoff single in the innings. But the Royals' three-run lead was restored in the eighth when Michael Massey had his own solo shot.
Jose Abreu tried to start a rally for Houston with a solo homer of his own in the ninth but it wasn't to be as the game ended 4-2 in favor of KC.
Angel Zerpa earned the win for the Royals who came on a reliever for Zach Greinke in the third innings. His four innings, one ER and 5 Ks effort gave his bullpen the perfect foundation to close out the game. Taylor Clarke earned the save.
Astros fans were quite livid with their team's efforts as they took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their opinions after their third loss in four:
Houston Astros failing to consolidate lead at the top of AL West
Dusty Baker's team would definitely not have expected losing a series to Oakland Athletics and then being on the verge of losing another to Kansas City. Both teams are at the bottom end of the American League and even the MLB.
The Astros still have a minor lead as the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners have been unable to string a win streak. But that lead is a minor and the defending champions will be expected to bounce back from the loss.