The Houston Astros came into Sunday’s contest looking to avoid the series sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers before they made their way to St. Louis to play the Cardinals. LA had a late game surge to tie the game but the Astros scored in extra innings to get the 6-5 win and improve their record to 42-36.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Dodgers scratched the first run of the game on the board at the bottom of the first inning as Mookie Betts hit a solo home run 392 feet over the center field wall.
Houston responded at the top of the second as Chas McCormick was walked and Jeremy Pena hit a two-run bomb 418 feet to give the Astros the 2-1 lead.
At the top of the fourth, Jose Abreu extended the Astros lead to 4-1 with another two-run shot after Kyle Tucker hit a ground rule double.
In the fifth, the Astros threatened to score again as Jake Meyers reached first on a single to third base, stole second, and advanced to third on a single by Mauricio Dubon. However, Alex Bregman grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Houston’s starting pitcher Hunter Brown finished the day by going six full innings. In that time he struck out seven batters while only giving up three hits and one run. Phil Maton came in for relief.
Raphael Montero came in for Maton in the eighth. The Dodger’s offense then came alive as with two outs, Betts was hit by a pitch, Freddie Freeman doubled into right field to score Betts, and Will Smith hit a two-run home run to tie the game.
Coach Dusty Baker made another pitching change to Hector Neris to end the inning. It was 4-4 headed into the ninth inning.
The Astros reclaimed the lead at the top of the 10th as Corey Julks doubled into left field that drove in Pena to give Houston the one-run advantage.
Betts forced an 11th inning with a sacrifice fly that drove in Miguel Rojas.
Houston added one more run as Bregman brought home Dubon to make it 6-5. The Astros stranded two runners as we headed to the bottom of the 11th.
The defense of the Astros stood strong as they avoid the sweep with a 6-5 win in extra innings over the Dodgers.
BIG NUMBER: 4
We witnessed a few go over the fence tonight as there was a total of four home runs coming from four different batters as the Astros got their 42nd win this season.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jose Abreu
Abreu came up big tonight as he went 2/5 from the plate with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored in a 6-5 win over the Dodgers Sunday evening.
UP NEXT: The Houston Astros will continue their long road trip as they travel to play the St. Louis Cardinals. Game one won’t begin until Tuesday as the first pitch is set for 6:45 p.m.