Nick Hernandez in 2017, Credit: Buies Creek Astros |
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SAN FRANCISCO -- The memories are fuzzy, but the names aren't. As a young child, Astros pitcher Nick Hernandez remembers watching Billy Wagner, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell play in person in the Astrodome. When he was 10 years old, he lived and died with the 2005 Astros, who won the National League pennant and made the team's first World Series appearance. "That team was stacked," he said. "The 'Killer B's.' I grew up watching Brad Lidge. I really liked Brad Lidge's slider growing up and how he'd throw it and how he'd get on top of it." Hernandez, with the help of a nasty slider, eventually became a standout player himself and was drafted by the Astros in 2016 out of the University of Houston, beginning a career he hoped would culminate with him stepping on the mound at Minute Maid Park in an Astros uniform. The dream was within reach, but the business of baseball had other ideas. Hernandez became a Minor League free agent after the 2022 season, which he spent mostly at Triple-A Sugar Land, and eventually signed with the Padres. He made his Major League debut last September for San Diego, pitching in two games. He was pitching with Triple-A El Paso on June 4 when he got a phone call that the dream was back on. Hernandez had been dealt back to his hometown Astros for cash considerations and was being added to the big league roster. With his friends and family in the stands, Hernandez threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning in relief at Minute Maid Park on June 5 against the Cardinals, a full-circle moment. |
"It was one of the best-case scenarios, just being home," he said. "My first big league game ever that I watched was at the Astrodome, so pitching at Minute Maid was a dream. I just grew up there, you know?" Before the Astros moved to the American League and changed their uniforms after the 2012 season, Hernandez would buy some cheap tickets and sit behind the dugout. From there, he visualized pitching at Minute Maid Park and the walk from the bullpen to the mound. "Just the feeling of what it would be like," he said. "I didn't think it would happen in this scenario -- going over to the Padres and coming back and getting traded. The trade really surprised me. I knew the Astros were interested, especially in the offseason, but I wasn't aware that they were trying to get me like that." Hernandez's first time on the Minute Maid Park mound came when he was in college at Houston, during the annual College Classic in 2016. Still, that wasn't the same as pitching for the Astros in a big league game. "I was familiar with that setting," he said. "But in an Astros uniform, that's huge. It was just exciting. It's just crazy the scenario in which it worked out, going over to the Padres and back here. I wouldn't have drawn it up like that." Hernandez, 30 years old, grew up in Missouri City, Texas, which is about 15 miles southwest of Minute Maid Park, and still lives there. He even attended Astros playoff games the last few years and wondered if the dream was dead. "I'd always show up to Minute Maid and say, 'Dang, dude, I never made it here,'" he said. "But here we are." |
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Shortstop Brice Matthews (the Astros' No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline) came off the injured list at High-A Asheville at the start of June and has been mashing. He went 12-for-26 (.462) with four homers, seven RBIs, nine runs and five steals last week en route to being named the South Atlantic League Player of the Week. That included a two-homer game on June 5 in which he went 4-for-4. Matthews, the Astros' first-round Draft choice last year out of the University of Nebraska (after attending Atascocita High School in Houston), played in 10 games at Asheville to begin the year before going on the injured list with lower back discomfort. He returned to the Tourists' lineup June 1 and is slashing .485/.575/1.061 through eight games this month. |
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Who hit the first grand slam in Houston franchise history? A. Rusty Staub B. Bob Aspromonte C. Carl Warwick D. Dan Buddin |
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THIS WEEK IN ASTROS HISTORY |
June 13, 2012 The Astros wound up on the wrong side of history at AT&T Park in San Francisco when Giants pitcher Matt Cain threw the 22nd perfect game in history. It was the first perfect game and only the fifth no-hitter against the Astros, who were in the middle of a rebuilding mode. Cain struck out 14 of the 27 batters he faced, with Jason Castro making the final out. Among the other notable players that were in the lineup that day for the Astros were Jose Altuve, J.D. Martinez and Jed Lowrie. Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco saved the perfect game with a great diving catch to rob Jordan Schafer of a hit in the seventh Inning. Before the game started, Cain launched golf balls from the home plate area over the right-field fence and into McCovey Cove with PGA golfer Dustin Johnson, who was in town for the U.S. Open. Rory McIlroy was also on the field prior to the game. |
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D. Dan Buddin It came in the franchise's first season on June 10, 1962 -- a 9-7 loss to the Dodgers by the Colt .45s in the second game of a doubleheader at Colt Stadium. The homer was the final homer of the 41 that Buddin, a shortstop, hit in his career. |
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