ATLANTA — Astros manager Joe Espada said pregame Friday that he hoped outfielder Zach Cole could “light a fire” in his team’s offense in his Major League debut. A few minutes later, general manager Dana Brown sat in the same spot in the Truist Park dugout and said that he hoped Cole could provide a “spark.”
Those were big expectations to put on a player who had played in only 15 games at the Triple-A level, but Cole quickly proved he was up to the assignment. Cole belted a tape-measure home run to right field on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues and wound up going 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the Astros to an 11-3 win over the Braves.
The win moved the Astros back to a half-game lead over the Mariners for first place in the AL West, with Seattle in action against the Angels later Friday night.
He became the fifth player in club history to homer in his first Major League plate appearance — the first since Mark Saccomanno on Sept. 8, 2008. And his four RBIs are a record for an Astros player in his debut.
“I think he’s got the ability to light a little fire in our offense,” Espada said pregame. “He’s pretty dynamic. He’s doing some really good things that play up really well against the staff that we’re about to face. He can handle fastballs, he can control the strike zone. Excited and proud of what he has accomplished this season.”
In the third inning, Cole, the Astros’ No. 19 prospect who was called up after posting a 1.204 OPS at Triple-A Sugar Land, stepped to the plate and walloped Hurston Waldrep’s first-pitch cutter and sent it a Statcast-projected 423 feet into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. The ball came off the bat with an exit velocity of 114.3 mph.
Cole didn’t stop there. In the fourth inning, he singled to center field to score Christian Walker, helping Houston to a 4-0 lead, and added another RBI single in a six-run fifth inning that ran Houston’s lead to 10-0. Cole struck out on three pitches in the seventh. He also made a nice catch jumping into the left-field wall in the first inning.