Apollo Spring Training Day 2: A Tale of Two Ball Games

19 runs. 25 hits. 2 HOURS AND 28 MINUTES.

I guess that is our new normal. I HATE IT but anyways. Yesterday’s game was a wild one in West Palm Beach where you saw the Atlanta Braves get out to an 8-0 lead thru 6 innings only for the Astros to rattle 11 unanswered runs and win the 2021 World Series. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Apollo Spring Training day 2 was a tale of two ball games.

Pitching? Pitching.

José Urquidy got the start as he prepares to represent Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, and the box score watchers might get a little angry. What I can tell you from the cheap seats is that Jose Urquidy will be just fine. He was mainly working on fastball/changeup and pounding the zone, but that leads to a few barrels here and there. He pulled the slider out and struck out the side when he had to, but I am excited to see his growth this season.

The freshly minted multi multi millionaire Rafael Montero relieved Urquidy and his stuff was pretty damn sharp. Friend of the program Ryne Stanek gave up a jam shot wind aided 60 mph jet stream homer that had me pissed off but his stuff was pumping upper 90’s. Brandon Bielak got stretched out pitching 3 innings the most of any pitcher on the day, and with the wind howling out it was great to see him keep the ball down. Seth Martinez once again a clean inning and this guy deserves to be on the opening day roster. Newly acquired Matt Gage cleaned up the 9th and I am interested to see his growth over the next month.

This offense MASHES

It doesn’t matter who is playing, it doesn’t matter if you have never heard their name or how many innings they have played in, the guy digging into the box RAKES. The culture of competition and success is the foundation of the Houston Astros dynasty and you see it in Spring Training. Altuve–Tucker–Peña all played 7 innings as they leave next week for their respective teams in the World Baseball Classic, kind of wild to see them play that long.

Kennedy Corona had 2 knocks, Will Wagner had another base hit, Justin Dirden who is making waves came off the bench cold and had a huge hit again. Matijevic had a 5 RBI steak afternoon. You throw all of that in a blender and you get an eleven run unanswered comeback. The big story of camp was the debut of Alex Bregman, friend of the program, the 2x WS champion played a few innings and he looked healthy and good.

Make sure to check out our latest Beyond the Diamond podcast about the Astros 2023 starting rotation.

Apollo Spring Training day 2 was a tale of two ball games. It was chaotic, fun, and short. Stay tuned for Apollo’s Spring Training coverage all March long.