Houston Astros vs Philadelphia Phillies Match Player Stats On Jul 25, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jul 25, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- Rookie outfielder Derek Fisher, freshly recalled from up from Triple-A, jumped right into the starting lineup and came up with a key two-run single to help the Houston Astros to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday.

Fisher went 1-for-3 with the two RBIs and a walk, upping his average to .286 in his first 21 career major league at-bats. He also made two terrific catches in center in the first two innings. The only blemish was getting caught stealing after his only hit.

The five runs were more than enough to support Astros starter Charlie Morton (8-4), who threw seven shutout innings against the club he pitched four games for last year before a hamstring injury cost him the remainder of the 2016 season.

Morton threw 71 of his 105 pitches for strikes, putting together his most complete start of the season with nine strikeouts against just three hits and one walk, lowering his ERA from 4.18 to 3.83. He did hit two batters, his eighth and ninth of the season.

Phillies rookie starter Nick Pivetta (3-6) did well against the potent Astros lineup early, limiting them to one run and one hit through the first five innings.

But Houston's lineup got to Pivetta in the sixth, producing four runs and five hits, including a two-out, two-run single by Fisher into right to make it 5-0.

Pivetta departed after six innings, having given up six hits and five runs (all earned) with seven strikeouts as his ERA rose to 5.73.

The Phillies (34-64), who have the worst record in baseball, lost for the third time in four games. They are 8-12 this month, which has been their best of the season thus far.

The Astros opened the scoring in the third inning. Third baseman Alex Bregman lined a triple to straightaway center and scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly to left by Norichika Aoki.

Bregman left the game after that inning with what was being called right hamstring tightness.

Bregman is the second Astros player to suffer a minor leg injury in Philadelphia. Outfielder George Springer was held out of Tuesday night's game with left quad discomfort suffered while making a catch on Monday night.

In the first two games of the series, both wins, the Astros (67-33) have 22 hits and 18 runs. That's nothing new for a team that entered play with a team batting average (.293) that was 15 points higher than the closest competition (Washington), having hit 16 more home runs and scored 52 more runs overall than anybody else in the majors.

NOTES: Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (7-6, 3.38 ERA) will face Astros RHP Mike Fiers (7-4, 3.59) in the series finale on Wednesday night. ... Houston is 4-1 on a nine-game road trip that started in Baltimore (2-1) and continues with three games in Detroit. ... Astros 2B Jose Altuve is hitting .494 (39-of-79) this month after going 1-for-4. He's trying to become the first batter since Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez in 2004 to bat over .500 in a month (minimum of 80 at-bats). ... Houston is 18-15 all time at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004.