The Houston Astros aren't thinking about what could have been in their loss against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday. They're moving on and putting all their effort in Wednesday's important finale.
The Houston Astros have found themselves in an all too familiar spot recently as they head into Wednesday's finale against the Seattle Mariners.
They have a half-game lead for the final AL Wild Card spot, facing their division rivals who have had their number this season.
That was the situation on Monday when the Astros delivered a dominant win.
They'll need to do that again for the second time in this series.
Defensive miscues were what undid Houston on Tuesday. Normally a top defensive unit, their three errors heavily contributed to five of the six runs that the Mariners scored.
One of their leaders is ready to put this game in the rearview mirror and not dwell on what could have been.
"I think you’ve got to flush it and move on to (Wednesday),” Alex Bregman told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “We’re a very good defensive ballclub. We need to play good defense [in] the next four games."
That sentiment was reiterated by second baseman Jose Altuve, whose error in the third inning led to two runs.
"We want to play good and we want to make no errors and hit, but these kind of games are going to happen. The key is just to leave it behind you and forget about it and show up and be the best player you can be and help your team to win," he said.
It's much easier to move on from an outlier game when the team knows how good they have been and how good they are defensively.
The question will be if they can actually flush this game and move on against a team that has beaten them eight out of 11 times this year.
Houston will certainly need to if they want to stay in the MLB playoff picture.