The Houston Astros fell to the Texas Rangers 4-3 in 10 innings on Monday night inside Globe Life Field. The Rangers can clinch the season series with one more win in the series.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Rangers started left-hander Andrew Heaney on the mound in this one. He looked sharp to begin the outing, and Houston could not score in the first.
He was opposed by Hunter Brown of the Astros. Brown, who has been on a tear of late, begin by matching that zero with one of his own to keep the game scoreless through one.
Each pitcher continued to look sharp through the early innings. However, Alex Bregman launched a solo home run in the top of the third to give the Astros a 1-0 lead. Heaney cruised through six innings of one-run ball, and the Astros never threatened to score on him again.
As for Brown, he ran into some trouble in the fifth with a couple of baserunners. A Leody Taveras sacrifice fly got the Rangers on the board and tied things at one.
Heaney was replaced in the top of the seventh, and Houston got a chance to score. A walk, single, and sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third. Then, another walk loaded the bases. However, Mauricio Dubon and Pedro Leon both struck out, so the game stayed tied.
In the top of the eighth, again the Astros threatened. Jose Altuve led off with a hit. He was moved to third with one out, and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Jeremy Pena. He brought home the run with a fielder’s choice RBI, and no out was recorded on the play.
The Houston lead was short-lived. In the bottom half of the inning, Corey Seager tied the game with a solo home run. That made it 2-2, and marked a blown save for Ryan Pressly.
The game stayed tied into the 10th. In that inning, the Astros scored the go-ahead run on an RBI walk. However, down to their final out, the Rangers answered. Josh Smith hit a walk-off two-run homer to lift the Rangers to a 4-3 win.
BIG NUMBER: 8
Once again, the Astros held the lead in the eighth inning or later. In fact, they held two separate leads in that time frame. However, they still managed to lose the game.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Josh Smith
The former LSU Tiger had just one hit, but it was a big one. His walk-off homer lifted the Rangers.
UP NEXT: The Astros and Rangers square off again tomorrow night, August 6th, at 7:05 PM. You can hear that game on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.