Among a locker room lockdown and a sunflower seed strike, Rick Porcello kept a level-head, and made his longest start of the spring thus far, rolling 4.2 innings, striking out one and giving up two earned runs.

Porcello allotted nine hits to his foes, all of which by way of the single, and did not go a single inning without giving up a baserunner. Still, he prevailed in getting out of each jam with minimal damage.

Myles Straw led off the first with a hard hit single but was retired when second basemen Jose Altuve grounded into a double play. Porcello slotted his only strikeout of the night against the Astros three-hole Alex Bregman, who was caught looking to end the frame.

The second inning started much like the first, as cleanup man Kyle Tucker singled to shortstop before Yuli Gurriel grounded into the second double play of the game. Carlos Correa grabbed the third Astro hit of the game on a line drive to left field before Porcello ended the inning on a Garrett Stubbs flyout.

Houston notched their first run off of Porcello in the third, after Ronnie Dawson and Straw singled with just one out. Porcello limited the damage with runners on first and third, however, as Altuve hit a sac-fly to right field. A Bregman flyout ended the frame with minimal damage.

Tucker and Gurriel led off the fourth inning with singles, and the Astros were poised to strike again with no outs. Porcello, however, was locked in, and got Correa to hit into a force-out before slotting his third double play of the game on a Tucker ground ball. All in all, only one run crossed the plate in back-to-back innings with jams.

The Astros led off with two singles for the third straight half-inning in the fifth, and with his pitch count reaching his limit, Porcello retired both Straw and Altuve before he was swapped for Paul Sewald, who got out of the inning with no damage done.

Porcello’s ERA in 10.2 IP thus far sits at an impressive 2.53. He has only walked one batter in that period, but has sacrificed 15 total hits, bringing his total H/9 to a concerning 13.235.

The three double-plays in Tuesday’s game were a promising line for Porcello, whose ground ball percentage hit an all-time low in 2019 at 38.1%. A Rick Porcello with a ground ball percentage in the mid-to-high forties could result in quite the successful season for the veteran starter.