Zack Short hit an opposite-field, walk-off single in the 11th inning, and the Houston Astros snapped a four-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
Short plated Cam Smith from second base with his single to right field off Rangers reliever Hoby Milner. Smith walked against Robert Garcia (1-5), who also walked Kenedy Corona to load the bases for Christian Walker, whose sacrifice fly to center scored Isaac Paredes with the tying run.
Texas pulled ahead 4-3 when Adolis Garcia ripped a single to left in the top of the 11th that scored Marcus Semien. Bennett Sousa (3-0) allowed the Adolis Garcia single but held the line there.
Texas mounted a stunning rally against the Astros’ bullpen, slicing a two-run deficit to 3-2 when Semien clubbed a two-out homer off Houston reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth. With two outs in the ninth, Kyle Higashioka bashed a 3-1 sinker from Astros closer Josh Hader, his fourth homer knotting the score and saddling Hader with his first blown save in 26 opportunities.
The Astros rode three solo home runs, all with two outs, to that 3-1 advantage. Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz drilled homers off Texas All-Star right-hander Jacob deGrom in the first and fourth innings, respectively. Altuve pulled the Astros even at 1-1 with his 17th homer. Diaz produced a 2-1 lead with his 13th. That run support appeared sufficient for Astros ace Framber Valdez.
Valdez labored through a 21-pitch top of the first before finding his groove. Sam Haggerty reached on a throwing error by shortstop Mauricio Dubon to open the game, took third base on a Semien single, and scored when Valdez uncorked a wild pitch to Wyatt Langford. Valdez followed with strikeouts of Langford and Jonah Heim to get himself on track.
Haggerty doubled leading off the third inning, the lone batter to reach against Valdez between the second and fifth. After stranding Haggerty with three consecutive groundball outs in the third, Valdez struck out five straight batters before Haggerty grounded out to cap the fifth.
Corey Seager hit a sharp grounder that ricocheted off Valdez and rolled to the visiting dugout for a leadoff double in the sixth. Valdez responded with strikeouts of Semien and Adolis Garcia before Langford singled and stole second base. Valdez induced Heim to ground out to Dubon.
Valdez allowed one unearned run on four hits and recorded 10 strikeouts. It marked the third time in his career that he notched double-digit strikeouts without issuing a walk.
deGrom allowed two runs, four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over six strong innings. Dubon belted his sixth home run with two outs in the seventh off Texas reliever Jacob Webb.
–Field Level Media
