Bust Out The Walking Stick

Last night, we saw one of the strangest rallies of the year. The suddenly surging Houston Astros… well, just look at it for yourself.

Top 6, SF @ Houston, Giants lead 1-0, Barry Zito pitching.

Ty Wigginton reaches on an infield single
Mark Loretta walked
Miguel Tejada singled to center
Lance Berkman walked
Geoff Blum hit a sacrifice fly
Hunter Pence intentionally walked
Reggie Abercrombie hit a sacrifice fly
Humberto Quintero hit by pitch
Randy Wolf walked
Ty Wigginton hit by pitch
Mark Loretta hit by pitch
Miguel Tejada flew out.

That’s a six run inning based on an infield single, an actual single, four walks, and three hit by pitches. 12 men came to the plate, and thanks to the classification between PA and AB, the Astros went 2 for 3 on the inning. You might not ever see a worse pitching sequence than hitting Quintero, walking Wolf, hitting Wigginton, and hitting Loretta in succession.

For the Astros, it’s another odd win in a winning streak that only the Astros front office saw coming. They were openly mocked for making trades to add veterans when they have next to no chance of making the playoffs, but the Astros have responded and are playing their best baseball of the season. It won’t matter, though, because their seven game winning streak has simply served to keep them even with the Brewers, who have won eight in a row.

Of course, if they can score six runs in an inning where they get just two singles, maybe anything is possible.