Carlos Correa BLASTS 200th Homer | Can His HOT BAT Propel Houston Astros to Playoffs?

Carlos Correa BLASTS 200th Homer | Can His HOT BAT Propel Houston Astros to Playoffs?

16 games left. That’s right. That’s how long the Astros have left in the season. They are currently a game and a half above the Mariners who are currently trailing the Cardinals right now. Do they have enough to hold off the Mariners? We’ll talk about this and more on tonight’s Locked on Astros podcast. Jel Diaz, this is Locked on Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked on Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman, and Brett Htown Wheelhouse Chansy. We are Locked on Houston Astros. We hope that you join us for a daily locked on Astros podcast. My name is Eric Heisman. You can find me on X at Eric TalkS. You can find the show at locked on Astros, your team. every day. Between Brett and I, we have about 18 years of podcasting experience. So, thank you for making us your first listen every day, whether it’s on you, YouTube, uh, Apple, Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen your podcast, go and make us your first listen. Go ahead and subscribe to us. There’s a little red button down there that says subscribe. Go and make us your first listen every day on your way to work. This episode is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament in the United States. Just visit 5hin.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Masters tournament ends October 31st, 2025. So the Astros, it got a little close towards the end. It happened kind of like last night where the Astros had the lead and then the bullpen blew it. But thankfully Yiner Diaz was the big hero of the game. But Jason Alexander, what more can you ask from this pitcher that came out of nowhere? Whole bunch of teams could have claimed him. whole bunch of teams could have got him, but the Houston Astros got Jason Alexander. Could he be the number three pitcher in the playoffs? And of course, Yinri Diaz was big hero, but Carlos Kaha hit his 200th career home run. That was a big key to the Astros having the two nothing lead early. And also, we’ll have to talk about Luis Garcia. He’s going on IEL again, unfortunately. We’ll talk about why. And like I mentioned to start the show, the Astros stay ahead of the Mariners for at least one more day. Thank you for making the Lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day. So Jason Alexander, how many of you knew of this guy before the season started? I know I didn’t. You thought that he was a guy from Seinfeld. Um, I know we all made the Jo jokes when he came around, but I know how many of y’all thought that Job Spatada was so tempted to pull him after the sixth inning, even going into the sixth inning because the third time around, hitters typically do very well against him. They’re batting 300 against Jason Alexander the third time around. So, this is something that Joe Spatada was like, “Look, he has a low pitch count. He finished the game with 89 pitches. Low pitch count. Am I going to trust this guy that has been limiting the Blue Jays hitters all game or am I going to bring in a fresh arm?” Well, I don’t know if you could say any reliever in Astros bullpen is fresh, but are we going to bring in a new arm to go and face some of these guys? And I think that Joe Spot made the right move. He went with his guy. Uh Jason Alexander has been the guy since coming to the Houston Astros. I believe he has a what is it? A 2.89 ERA since coming to Houston Astros. Something crazy like that. Um it is I’ll look for it in a second, but um since coming to the Houston Astros, he’s got a 259 RA. That’s even better than I thought. So, um, he’s just, this is guy that when he came to the Astros, he had a 18 RA were like, “Oh, great. What’s this guy going to do for us?” But he has become one of your most dependable uh, pitchers. I know I saw a lot of people in X on uh, YouTube. We do see some of your comments. Uh, we we see some people saying start Jason Alexander over from her Valdez. At this point, I still think that Joe Spot is going to go with Romero Valdez in game two, but as you saw with Jeremy Pena over the weekend, Hunter Brown is the ace. He bleeds the ace blood and he’s going to go out there and he just uh he should be recognized for what he’s doing. And that’s what Jeremy Pena was saying over the weekend. And I think uh people across baseball are starting to see what Hunter Brown can do. From Valdez, people I think know what he’s capable of doing. It’s just a matter of him duplicating it from night to night. But Jason Alexander, nobody thought he would be doing what he’s doing. But he went against a guy, a team that started with the best record in the American League today and pitched seven innings, only allowed three hits, one walk, three strikeouts. didn’t allow any home runs of course and his erra on the season is now 4.19. So you took it from 18 to 4.19. That shows what that 2.59 erra with the Houston Astros in the extended starts. Uh this was his longest start of his career with the Houston Astros. I believe he had a longer one or with the A’s earlier in his career, but um what Jason Alexander is doing, I don’t think anybody would expect it. And you could have made a case maybe keep him in for the eighth inning, especially with how the bullpen has been taxed recently. 89 pitches. I It wasn’t It was like the four, five, six hitters, I believe it was, something like that. Ourt has not been on top of his game recently. So I wouldn’t have judged Espatada for leaving him in for one more inning. At least try to get him in there for one more batter or two and then to have a Ourt. But I think the fact that you had Okurt warming up in a couple other innings, I think you had to bring him in at that point because you probably spent him at that point. So I think that’s why they decided to do that. But what’s up Astros fans? Are you excited about this? The Astros broke a twoame losing streak. Yeah, the Mariners are on a four-ame winning streak and some team called the Rangers. Uh I think they’re a minor league team. I’m just kidding, Joe. I see you in there. But the Rangers are on fourame winning streak as well. But the Astros have competition. They started the day with one game lead over the Mariners. So every game is critical. And Jason Alexander, he went out there, he dealt, he got the job done. And I like the Astros rotation, but unfortunately it took another hit. I know y’all heard yesterday Brett talk about Luis Garcia, but unfortunately it got worse. Um, he was put on the IIEL today. He was flown back to Houston to get some testing done on the elbow. It’s being termed elbow discomfort, but we we all saw what happened. It was basically after a 88 mile per hour fastball, he winced and immediately pointing uh like waved his glove at the dugout basically saying, “Hey, I’m hurt. I need to get out of this game ASAP.” And Espada went to the mound. It was not a discussion. I instantly knew that that was bad news. And it just looked like his velocity wasn’t really there, but the movement was there. And there are some things to get excited about with Luis Garcia, but this is what’s happened to the Houston Astros all season. This is why Jason Alexander even entered in to this conversation. So this is why sometimes you have to rely on people outside of the circle. And the Astros have had to do that way too often. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work. But with Jason Alexander, it’s worked. And this dude, he’s he’s in my circle of trust. I don’t know if he’s in your circle of trust, but this guy is. So guys, next we’ll talk about the Astros offense. What did Carlos Grey do? Yiner Diaz, is he back? Is he back to who he should be? And Yordan Alvarez, he’s been hot since he’s come back, but how hot? So, we’ll go and talk about this on the Locked on Astros podcast. Hey guys, if you’re tired like me, you’ve been working all week, uh, 10 hours days, and you want to go maybe hit up golf course this weekend and you don’t necessarily want to drink a bunch of alcohol on a golf course. Well, why don’t you try something that has grape, ginger, uh, maybe lime flavored shots that bring back the iconic taste of golf course favorites? maybe not even go to the golf course. Whether it’s on the golf course or just need a little extra push to power through your day, five hour energy transfusion delivers the clubhouse flavor you love without ever leaving the green. So whether it’s going top golf and just hitting it over the screen or just getting it to the red circle that’s a few feet away, whatever makes you happy, just do it with uh five outer energy. Golf is about good times with good people and good flavors. So now you can amp up with even more. Just buy, snap, and enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament in United States. Tee up to that trip. Visit 5hin.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Masters tournament. Ends October 31st, 2025. Speaking of ending, let’s talk about FanDuel. What are the odds of the Astros making it to the playoffs? I know this is something that we don’t want to talk about, but I’m sure if you go to FanDuel, all the odds are up. You could go to fan graphs. You can look at odds, too. But, um, what are the odds for the Astros going to the playoffs right now? What the odds for them going to the World Series? You could do all this plus same day parlays for whatever sport you want with the Texans playing. Uh if you want to go and make a a wager during a game, whatever you want to do, FanDuel is here for you. With the NFL season, it’s here. Uh from kickoff to first pitch, whatever you want it to be. So, uh right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use right across the apps. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet today. Hey guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe to us. Let’s go and make this your first listen. Apple, Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you’re listening on podcast, go and check us out. So, uh, Brett will be back tomorrow. Hopefully, we can, um, talk about another Astros victory. The Blue Jays are a good team, but they are a pesky team. They’re a team that when they’re down, they don’t want to stay down. It seems like you have a comfortable lead like the Astros did the night before. AJ Blue Ball came in after Luis Garcia left and he was dealing. The Astros had a no hitter going for a while there. I’m like, are we gonna have another Royalt situation where you have a whole bunch of uh you have Roy Oswalt leave early and then you have a whole bunch of relievers come in? But unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be yesterday. But the Astros, they gave up uh Brian Abrau, he struggled yesterday, but that’s baseball. sometimes your closer, who’s not really supposed to be your closer, but because Josh haters on the IIL, he is your closer. But for today’s game, the Astros got some offense early, kind of like they did the day before. Yiner Diaz has been pretty hot recently, and he’s got the scoring started with that RBI double. Then you had Carlos Koreah. He’s been on fire since coming back to the Houston Astros. And he had his 200th career home run. And it’s awesome that he got to do it with the Houston Astros where he started. And it was a big home run at the time because it gave them the two nothing lead. Yes, the Blue Jays eventually came back to tie it. Uh Kirk gave up the two runs. It probably could have been no runs. It’s just a lot of bad luck in that inning. the ball’s just getting right past the infielders and the ball Cam Smith maybe could have dove for it but he chose to uh Ty uh Ty France I told y’all he was going to get us in this uh series but Ty France um so it just a lot of little things that happened that that inning but the Astros didn’t have that big implosion inning and so that allowed the Astros offense to have that comeback and Yiner Diaz We’ve given him a lot of crap this year. Yeah, I know that he’s not the best of defensive catchers, but he called a great game today for Jason Alexander and he went out there and had a good at bats to hit that home run. Clutch situation and an enemy territory and it was big and you could tell that his excitement in his face and the excitement on the team, they knew that that was probably the gamewinner in the eighth inning. And um Genner Diaz when he’s on he’s on but that was his 19th home run on the season. Carlos Korea that was his 13th home run on the season. I believe he has six home runs with the Astros now. So that’s he’s almost equaled what he had with the Twins. I believe he had eight with the Twins. So what’s going on with the Astros is weird. Like sometimes they can hit score 11 runs and the next day they only get three runs. This is one of those times where it dispels Brett’s theory of they have to score four runs. Well, they don’t always have to score four runs. They just have to score three runs and have good pitching like Jason Alexander did. And so it’s just crazy. Um so somebody could look it up for me, but let me I guess I could look it up right here. But with the Astros, he has uh two teams. He has he had seven home runs with the Twins, and this was his sixth home run with the Astros. So, yes, I I thought he had eight for some reason with the Twins. So, yeah, he’s almost equaled how many home runs he’s had with the Twins. So, uh just amazing how good that he’s been doing. So, uh 297. Wait, was that his seventh home run? Yeah. So, it’s just amazing what Carlos Kra has been doing with the Astros. With the Astros this year, he’s batting .297 with 809 OPS and six home run, 19 RBI’s. With the Twins, he had seven home runs, 31 RBI’s, batted 267, had a 705 OPS. Sometimes a change of scenery will do you good. Sometimes coming back to a team where your Hermono is, Jose Altuve, where you uh came up with it will get your offense going where you feel comfortable. And I think that Carlos Cra felt comfortable and with the Houston Astros and I know speaking of Jose Altuve, he’s been struggling a lot offensively and um we know that he was quote unquote dropped to the cleanup spot on uh what was that Tuesday night and then he was given the day off. This was a planned day off. It may not have been uh circled on the calendar, but Job Spot felt that after two Tuesday’s game that this will be a day that Jose Altuve needed to just have a breather to just go ahead and just think about things. He’s been struggling a lot recently. So, uh this was a chance for him to just sit back, relax, reset, and get back in there for tomorrow. Spa said he’s been playing a lot. And so if you think about what uh Altu has been doing the entering in Wednesday, he’s batting 163, 230, 288 in the last 26 games. He’s been struggling and the Astros are not going to do anything unless you have Jose Aluve hitting. And so Job Spatada, it doesn’t matter how hot Gordon Alvarez is. We’ll talk about how hot he is in a second, but it doesn’t matter how hot he is if Alub is not doing anything cuz Christian Walker, he’s hit or miss. And Jeremy Pena has been pretty consistent for most part of the year. Jiner Diaz has been hitting a lot more recently, but the Astros go as Jose Alt goes. And when he’s struggling, the Astros struggle. So, um, this was just a day for him to get off his feet, just relax, think about things. He did get a bat later on in the game and he did play some defense. So, it wasn’t a total day off. Let’s just call it a Cal Ripken uh day off where he sat most of the game and then he came back in to uh play the the final inning. But, it was a day to just have a breather. So, maybe it’ll get him going. Maybe the Astros offense will get going 16 games. The Mariners, the Rangers are right there. You don’t have a lot of time to go on twoame losing streaks, three-game losing streaks. If you do that, you’re going to be out of the playoffs. So guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. When we get back, we’ll go ahead and talk about what’s going on with the Mariners, what’s going on with the Rangers, and what the Astros need to do over the next 16 games. 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For a limited time, Neutrifull is offering Locked on MLB listeners $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to neutrifull.com and enter the promo code lockdown. That’s neutral.com promo code locked on. Hey guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe to us. Go and make first listen Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast, go and check us out. So, uh I just saw this uh Chance just said, “Why didn’t uh Jason Alexander get the W?” Well, because um unfortunately the Astros bullpen blew up the lead after Jason Alexander left. So the pitcher that gets the win is typically the the pitcher of record or the loss. So um Alexander left when the Astros have the two to nothing lead, but then they tied the game. So it’s no he’s no longer the pitcher of record. And so that’s a explanation about why he did not get the win. Should he get the win? Sure. But that’s just not how baseball works. That it’s just one of those quirks. Like the Astros still won the game. He was the best pitcher in the game and they wouldn’t have won this game unless he went out there and pitched seven strong innings. It was the eighth inning that killed the Astros. Um well, I guess I only gave up the two runs, but you know what I mean. But it’s just one of those rules. And if you go ahead and try to change that rule, there’s just going to be so many so much red tape and so many well what if this, what if that, and so many different thing interpretations. And so I don’t think that rule is going to change. But um I know during spring training, uh that rule is kind of um a little bit looser uh because pitchers don’t go five innings. So they typically assign it to somebody that pitches good or just somebody they figure it’s just a little bit looser there. But um the Astros currently have the one uh one and a half game lead over the Mariners. The Mariners right now Oh, they just tied it. I guess they just tied it. They were losing one to nothing. But the Mariners are playing the Cardinals. The Cardinals are 72 and 74 on the season. So, you’re hoping that the they’ll be playing a team that’s good. I know the Cardinals are only two games below 500, but we need somebody that’s going to go out there and kick their butts and just go out and sweep them and just take care of business or whatever, do whatever it takes. Um but uh the Mariners uh are on a four-game winning streak and the Cardinals are just not that good a team. And if they get the victory tonight, great. But at least the Astros are not going to lose any ground. They’ve been losing a lot of ground recently. And I believe they had a three and a half game lead or four and a half game lead about a week and a half ago or so over the Mariners. Now it’s down. It was down to a game before today’s. So the Astros, they can’t afford to continue to lose games. Even the Mar the Rangers are what on a four-game winning streak. They are 77 and 70. So uh they are currently Did they Oh, they actually won today’s game. So I think that includes that um game right there. So, uh, the Rangers are 7 and3 in their last 10 games. The Mariners are five and five. So, even if the Mariners go on a big losing streak or something, the Rangers are right there. They’re a game behind the Mariners. So, the Astros have a slim lead. That’s all you can say. they they have a slim lead and every loss it it gets them closer and closer to the rest of the pack and you didn’t build yourself enough cushion in case of a fall and the Astros have been falling a lot recently. You can’t blame it all on the um pitching all in the offense. It’s just been a lot of issues and you can’t it’s not all about the injuries because a lot of the injured players are back. So, it’s just a situation where the Astros just not playing good baseball all around B good baseball right now. You could say that the first game against the Blue Jays was good for what, seven innings and then things fell apart. This bullpin is not going to scare anybody, especially when you have JP France, Lance McCullers in there, and then you have Brian Abrau and a bunch of dudes. That’s no offense to the guys in the bullpen, but you just don’t have the depth that you would like. Hopefully Josh her is able to come back, but there’s no signs that says you can expect to have Josh her in the playoffs. So, the Astros have got to figure out somebody’s got to stand up in this bullpen. I don’t know who it is. I know in today’s game, uh, recently Delos Santos has looked pretty good. Um, AJ Blue Ball, I think that he’s possibly going to get the next look in the rotation. I know Luis Garcia, his spot in the turn is, I believe, is going to come up against the Braves. So, I don’t think I guess you could go ahead and give it to Lance McCullers, but he’s not stretched out. Um JP France, you could, but he’s not really fully stretched out either. So, AJ Blue Ball, he is he threw 45 pitches yesterday. Uh the only reason why he didn’t go uh further in deeper into the game is because he pitched three days before that. So, he was on a bullpin schedule. So, if you go ahead and give him the extended time to get back into starter mode, he could go back into the rotation. But, I wouldn’t expect to see Luis Garcia for the rest of the season. Spencer Arrigetti, I wouldn’t expect to see him. What’s up with all these pitchers with the elbow? Is it the pitch clock? Is it just the uh just the spin rates? What’s what’s going on? Why is all It’s not just the Houston Astros, but it just seems like John Rooney comes up, makes his MLB debut, he might have pitched twice, then he has elbow issues. Bonets, no. Um Caleb Bort is having elbow issues. So there’s just it’s just frustrating how I know it’s not woe is us and other teams are dealing with it too, but it’s just frustrating how you just think that right before the playoffs, you finally get the team healthy and then boom, you get slapped in the face with reality of what 2025 has been. And it’s about we are built for this. were built for adjusting, dealing with injuries, and finding the next man up. And that’s basically what the Houston Astros have been forced to do all year long. And so the Astros have got to if they’re not able to go far in the playoffs this year, they’re going to have to make some adjustments in um in their plans for next year. The bullpin is good with Josh hater, Brian Bree, but you need some more pieces. And the rotation I kept I don’t want to keep on saying this, but you can’t count on players coming back after not pitching for a year and a half and count on them. Like Christian Javier, like he’s he’s the last man standing. Well, I guess I’m not going to count Spencer or Getty that in that group, but so JP France hasn’t really pitched much with the Astros, but you can’t count on these guys. That’s why I wish that Dana Brown would have done something at the trade deadline to get another starter, maybe another bullpen arm, but it’s too late. The Astros are where they are. So, now it’s time to buckle up. Enjoy the last 16 games because it’s going to be stressful. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be nerve-wracking. It’s going to make you cry. It’s going to make you cheer. And it’s going to make you want to call for Joe Espatada’s job. But guess what? That’s what makes you an Astros fan because you’re passionate about your sport. So guys, that’s all we got for this edition of the Lockdown Astros podcast. Hopefully tomorrow Brett and I will be talking about the Astros victory and hopefully we’ll be talking about the Astros losing tonight, losing tomorrow, losing next game, and the Rangers going on this big losing streak because you need a little bit of help from your friends sometimes. Um guys, we’ll see you tomorrow and go [Music]

Houston Astros face crucial 16-game stretch in tight AL West race. Can they maintain their slim lead over the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers?

Eric Huysman breaks down the Astros’ recent performance, highlighting Jason Alexander’s unexpected pitching gem and Carlos Correa’s 200th career homer. The host analyzes Jose Altuve’s slump, bullpen concerns, and playoff implications. Guest insights on roster moves and injury impacts add depth to the discussion.

Tune in for expert analysis on the Astros’ path to the postseason and key factors that could make or break their championship aspirations.

The Astros break a two-game losing streak after Jason Alexander continues his resurgence in a dominating start against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Astros scored early on an RBI double and Carlos Correa’s homer, his 200th of his career. Luis Garcia goes back on the IL with elbow discomfort. Welcome back, Nick Hernandez. Who goes back into the rotation?

Locked On Astros is a daily podcast about the Houston Astros, hosted by Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey. It is part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
Be sure to subscribe to Locked On Astros on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Come back every weekday to spend your commute listening to the latest Astros news and notes. Thanks for listening, and tell your friends!

0:00 Intro: Astros’ remaining games and playoff race

5:09 Jason Alexander’s performance for Astros

15:24 Carlos Correa’s 200th home run and Astros offense

25:07 Astros’ slim division lead and competition

30:15 Closing thoughts on upcoming stressful games
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