The Orioles finally got their rebuild right, but there’s more work to do
Mackenzie Salmon is joined by former MLB catcher Erik Kratz and the pair talk about the rise of the Baltimore Orioles.
Sports Seriously, USA TODAY
HOUSTON – Jon Singleton provided plenty of fireworks in the Houston Astros’ 11-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Singleton hadn’t homered in the majors in eight years and 13 days entering Friday night’s game. Then he hit a home run in each of his first two at-bats.
The first baseman, who was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land on Friday, hit a soaring three-run shot to the second deck in right field off Reid Detmers to put Houston on top 3-1 in the second inning.
There was one on and one out in the third when he connected off Detmers again to make it 7-3 and end the left-hander’s night.
They were his first major league homers since he hit one for the Astros in a 6-3 win over the Angels on July 29, 2015. That’s the longest stretch between home runs by a position player in the majors since Rafael Belliard went 10 years and 144 days between the only two homers of his career – for Pittsburgh in 1987 and for Atlanta in 1997. And it’s the longest homer gap by any player since pitcher Jake Peavy went nine years, 52 days between 2006 and 2015.
It was Singleton’s first career multi-homer game, and he ended the night with a career-high five RBI.
The 31-year-old appeared in 114 games for the Astros in 2014 and 2015 after signing a five-year, $10 million contract. He last appeared in a major league game for the Astros on Oct. 2, 2015.
Singleton was in the Astros organization until before the 2018 season when he asked for his release after being suspended 100 games for a third positive drug test while playing at Double-A Corpus Christi.
Out of baseball from 2017-21 before restarting his career in the Mexican League, Friday was the kind of night that once seemed like a distant dream.
“There was this moment in time where I wouldn’t say I didn’t imagine it, but it wasn’t even a thought in my mind,” he said. “But as life went on, things changed and it definitely was a thought in my mind that this could be my life again.”
Singleton returned to the majors earlier this season for Milwaukee, playing 11 games before being released.
His home runs Friday were his first hits with the Astros this season. He had gone 0-for-4 with two walks in his first two games.
