SEATTLE -- Cam Smith had his chance to break out in the top of the fourth inning Tuesday in Seattle, coming up with the bases loaded and two outs. He flied out to right field, stretching his hitless streak to 10 at-bats.
Houston¡¯s top prospect wouldn¡¯t come up empty on his next chance.
After Yainer Diaz made it to second on an error in the top of the seventh, Smith turned on a hanging Sweeper from Collin Snider, pulling it down the line and into the corner for his first career RBI. As Diaz trotted home, Smith turned on the jets, sliding into third base just ahead of Randy Arozarena¡¯s throw for a triple -- his first career extra-base hit and the Astros¡¯ first three-bagger of the year.
But it was Victor Caratini who got to play the final hero on Tuesday. The veteran catcher entered for Smith in the 10th inning and then punched an RBI single through the right side in the 12th to give Houston a 2-1 win. Ryan Gusto -- the Astros¡¯ No. 21 prospect -- earned his first career win after pitching a clean 11th, after Josh Hader walked a tightrope in the ninth and 10th.
¡°Our pitching did an excellent job,¡± manager Joe Espada said. ¡°We scrapped to get some runs across the board. We¡¯re a good offensive team, but right now it¡¯s challenging. Good teams go through stuff like that, but good teams also find a way to win, and we found a way to win.¡±
Smith covered the 270 feet from home to first on his triple in 11.53 seconds to make it the fifth-fastest triple in MLB this year and the fastest by an Astro since Jeremy Pe?a¡¯s 11.40 sprint on Sept. 30, 2022.
Smith, the Cubs¡¯ first-round pick in last year¡¯s Draft, came to Houston as part of the return in the Kyle Tucker trade -- as a third baseman. But the Astros moved him to right field to get his bat in the lineup and the 22-year-old hit .342 with four home runs and a 1.130 OPS in Spring Training, good enough to get him on the Opening Day roster with just 32 games of pro experience under his belt.
The bat struggled out of the gate, though. After getting a hit on Opening Day, Smith got mired in a 1-for-15 slump with nine strikeouts. He was making hard contact -- five of the nine balls he¡¯d put in play had exit velocities over 95 mph -- but they were finding gloves. When the Astros went to Minnesota, even the hard contact slowed down, and he sat for the finale against the Twins and the opener in Seattle.
¡°I always remind him, it¡¯s a very long season and we want him to trust the process,¡± Espada said.
In the seventh inning Tuesday night, Smith proved that he had taken it to heart.
¡°I thought today he did look more comfortable,¡± Espada said. ¡°He had better passes at the ball. This kid¡¯s going to be a good player. ¡ I believe in him. He¡¯s going to take some time to get going, but he¡¯s doing the work we¡¯re asking him to do and he¡¯s going to be fine.¡±
Smith said that most of the work he¡¯s done recently has been with hitting coaches Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker in the batting cage, setting up closer to the plate and speeding up his timing a little bit to get into his legs earlier.
But it helps being in a veteran-heavy clubhouse as a rookie; he specifically pointed out Jose Altuve, Christian Walker and Mauricio Dub¨®n as guys who have been helping him through his first two weeks as a big leaguer.
¡°Honestly, just talking to the vet guys, they help me deal with stuff like this,¡± Smith said. ¡°Obviously it¡¯s part of the game, everybody has to deal with it.¡±
Smith¡¯s triple gave Framber Valdez a smidgen of run support after six scoreless innings. The southpaw, who said he was still only feeling around 70% after battling an illness overnight, struck out eight and allowed just two hits and a walk.
¡°I [told] him, ¡®Dude, you¡¯re the ace of this team. I need you to go out and post and give us a good outing,¡¯ and he did,¡± Espada said.
Taylor Scott allowed a run on a one-out infield single in the bottom half of the inning, but Bryan King, Hader, Gusto and Steven Okert combined for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. All told, Houston¡¯s six pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts -- its most in a game since July 3, 2022 -- and held Seattle to a 1-for-19 line with runners in scoring position.