The Houston Astros fell to the Texas Rangers 10-7 on Tuesday night inside Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The loss ends a four-game winning streak for the Astros and evens the series at one game each.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
On Monday night, the Astros tossed a combined no-hitter against the Rangers to grab their fourth win in a row. They tried to follow up on that in this game while facing Jack Leiter, who Texas sent to the mound.
Leiter would have a successful first, working around a baserunner to post a zero. Jason Alexander, who the Astros countered with, would not be so lucky.
Alexander had a disastrous first inning, allowing eight runs to score. Jake Burger and Evan Carter both drove in two. Ezequiel Duran added another. Then, Joc Pederson put the exclamation point on the frame with a three-run homer, making it 8-0 after an inning.
The Astros would answer back in the third inning. Yordan Alvarez continued his incredible season, blasting a three-run shot of his own to cut the lead to 8-3.
Carter added a solo shot of his own in the bottom half, giving Texas one back and making it 9-3.
Houston added a run in the fourth on an RBI hit by pitch. They had the chance to add more in the inning with the bases still loaded, but failed to capitalize.
The game would stay 9-4 until the top of the eighth. The Astros got two more on two solo shots. The second of the night from Alvarez was the first, and Cam Smith added one as well. Those two runs made it 9-6, but Texas got one in the bottom half to push it back to a four-run lead at 10-6.
Jeremy Pena would add a homer in the ninth to cut the lead down to 10-7. However, that was the last gasp for the Astros. Texas held on for the 10-7 win.
BIG NUMBER: 8
The Rangers’ offense put up an eight-spot in the first inning of this game. That was going to be a difficult hill to climb. Houston did chip away at the lead, but the eight run first was too much to overcome.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Evan Carter
Carter was incredible in this game, going 3-4 with a home run, triple, and three RBIs. He made it through 3/4 of the cycle including the most elusive part, the three-bagger. He fell just a double short of completing one of baseball’s most difficult feats.
UP NEXT: The Astros and Rangers will conclude their series on Wednesday night at 7:05 PM. The game can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.