On Thursday the Houston Astros made a rather odd move by sending a player to be named later and some cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for utility man, Tyler Greene.
Apparently they saw something out of the 28-year-old, with a career .218 batting average, that no one else could.
In his Astros debut on Friday night, Greene saw limited action as a pinch runner in the bottom of the ninth. With Houston down 3-2, the newcomer stole second, his 10th of the season, and then took third as a result of a wild pitch by Brewers‘ closer John Axford.
Greene was then driven home by Steve Pearce to even the game up at three a piece. Two batters later, Pearce scored the game-winning run.
It would be hard to follow up his debut in which he was key in his new team’s come from behind win, but Greene decided he would try anyways.
Starting at shortstop, the newly acquired Greene was slated in the lead-off spot. In his first career at bat as a member of the Astros, rocking the teams throwback jerseys, he laced a double down the left field line. The four-year veteran came around to score once again thanks to another single by teammate Steve Pearce.
Two times Greene had reached base and both times he found himself crossing the plate. After lining out to right in his second plate appearance, he decided he liked the whole scoring thing. So he sent a drive over the yellow line in deep left center field in his next at bat for his fifth homer of the season.
In 179 at bats with the Cards, he only made it all the way around a total of 16 times. In just three plate appearances, Greene had three runs scored.
He came to the plate two more times, striking out once in the seventh and then again with two outs in the ninth to send the game into extras.
With a full game under his belt, Greene’s stat line is: .400 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 runs, and 1 stolen base.
Most importantly though, after they won via walk-off for the second straight night, Houston is now 2-0 since they made the move for Tyler Greene.
*All stats from ESPN.com.
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