HOUSTON — When the Astros took the sector on protection to begin the fourth inning Wednesday afternoon, veteran Alex Bregman stood alone at third base. The Minute Maid Park audio system blared “Wanna Be a Baller” by Lil’ Troy, one in every of his walk-up songs, whereas he was proven on the video board.
“I was just told right before [that] it was going to happen,” Bregman mentioned. “I didn’t really know.”
It wasn’t till Astros supervisor Joe Espada got here out with the lineup card that the group started to grasp, too. Espada pulled Bregman from the game, incomes him a possibility — maybe for the last time in the common season — to get an ovation from the followers who've seen him evolve from a can’t-miss rookie in 2016 to a cornerstone participant on two World Series championship groups.
Wednesday’s 8-1 loss to the Mariners, which got here a day after the Astros beat Seattle to clinch the American League West title and lock up the No. 3 seed in the AL playoffs, wasn’t Bregman’s closing home game. The Astros will play host to the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series, starting Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.
“It’s Fan Appreciation Day so why not show some appreciation for one of our best players who’s entering free agency?” Espada mentioned. “I just wanted the fans to give him a standing O. Well-deserved.”
Bregman joins Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander and injured pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. as the one holdovers who performed on each of Houston’s World Series championship groups in 2017 and ‘22.
“Super thankful for all the fans here over the years,” Bregman mentioned. “They’ve been amazing. I wish we could have won today, but we’ll go up to Cleveland hopefully win a few games, get on a roll and get going for the postseason.”
Simply put, Bregman is the staff’s best third baseman and is definitely a prime 10 participant in franchise historical past.
On the all-time Astros hitting charts, Bregman ranks sixth in homers (191), seventh in doubles (263), eighth in runs (694) and extra-base hits (472), ninth in RBIs (662) and whole bases (2,001) and eleventh in hits (1,127). His 19 profession postseason homers are tied for the sixth most in postseason historical past.
“There's qualities that you look for in a winning player and Breggy has all of them,” Espada mentioned. “He cares about his teammates, No. 1. He’s a winner, the best way he works, he cares in regards to the metropolis, he cares about small issues that generally you don’t take into consideration. Breggy’s at all times interested by that.
“He’s in the cage helping his teammates, helping the pitchers and how they approach hitters. He’s just a complete player. Not only what he does on the field, but off the field, he’s a complete player. It’s been great being around him for seven years. Let’s not make this like we’re never going to see him again. But I thought today was a perfect day just for the fans to show some love and respect for one of our best players.”
The Astros suffered their first loss this season with Yusei Kikuchi on the mound, ending 46-35 at home this yr. Kikuchi went six innings and allowed 4 hits and struck out eight batters whereas permitting two unearned runs, which got here as the results of an error by rookie and No. 14 prospect Shay Whitcomb.
Whitcomb, who changed Bregman at third base, set a membership report with 4 errors. That’s probably the most in the massive leagues since Marco Scutaro had 4 for the A’s on July 6, 2007, in opposition to Seattle.
“This kid is a sure-handed third baseman,” Espada mentioned. “He’s done it in the Minor Leagues. It’s one of those days. I’ve seen really good third basemen in my years in the big leagues that have days like that. Just got to turn the page.”
“Those are the kind of moments that make you go out and take ground balls the next day and bounce back and get back up and do it again,” Bregman mentioned. “We were talking about it yesterday after being down 10 games [in the division in June]. It’s a game of failure, and you’ve got to have a short memory in this game and continue to get after it and grind.”
