Notes and photos from Astros camp, plus a blast-from-the-past image, 50th anniversary-style
Notes for today’s game in Dunedin between the Astros and the Blue Jays:
* Left-hander Zach Duke will make his first start of the spring today (Saturday). His last appearance occurred on March 5 vs. the Braves, during which he tossed three innings of relief, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
* In the Astros four wins this spring, the starting pitchers have posted a 1.75 ERA, allowing seven earned runs over 36 innings.
* Who’s hot this spring? Outfielder J.D. Martinez, who has eight RBIs and a .364 batting average with a .909 slugging percentage. His eight RBIs are tops in the Grapefruit League. All four of his hits have gone for extra bases — three doubles, one home run. Catcher Chris Snyder has two home runs in three games played and a 1.286 slugging percentage. Outfielder J.B. Shuck is hitting .444 (4-for-9) and Jordan Schafer is hitting .417 (5-for-12).
* In addition to Duke, other pitchers expected to appear in Saturday’s game are right-hander Jordan Lyles, left-hander Fernando Abad, right-hander Lance Pendleton and right-hander Jorge De Leon.
* The game will be broadcast on KTRH 740, with announcers Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond calling the action.
For today’s photo gallery, we include a few leftovers from the past couple of days…
Jose Altuve leans against the cage and watches his teammates hit during batting practice.
Altuve and Carlos Lee have a laugh during BP.
Jason Castro and Brian Bogusevic compare notes before a round of hitting.
Third base candidates gather for baserunning drills during BP.
Early morning warmups.
And we end with a Spring Training photo, 50th anniversary-style:
Here we have J.R. Richard and Jose Cruuuuuuuuz, who was undoubtedly hamming it up for the camera (which he has been known to do, even today)…
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