Gabriel Moreno's one-out single in the 10th inning scored Arizona's extra-innings runner and gave the Diamondbacks a 4-3 win over the Astros on Saturday at Daikin Park, a game in which Houston carried a lead into the seventh but could not lock it down. The Astros went scoreless after the fifth, stranded Jose Altuve at second in the eighth, and then watched the heart of their order fail to move a runner 90 feet in the bottom of the 10th.
It was the fourth time in 58 games this season that Houston lost when leading after six innings. The Astros fell to 73-69 and remained three games up on the Rangers, who lost to Tampa Bay.
Houston took a 3-1 lead into the seventh. Lars Nootbaar halved it with an RBI double off rookie AJ Blubaugh, and Ketel Marte erased it entirely in the eighth, working a full count before arcing a sweeper below the zone into the right-field seats for his 22nd home run. Marte turned, flung his bat toward the Diamondbacks' dugout, and started his trot.
The bullpen was shorthanded. Steven Okert is out with a hamstring injury. Bryan Abreu and Bennett Sousa had both pitched the last two days. So the seventh inning went to Kai-Wei Teng, who faced three batters, retired one, and walked two. Blubaugh entered with the tying run on base. Nootbaar lined his changeup into the right-field corner. A run scored, but Ryan Waldschmidt, running from first, was held at third. Blubaugh stranded him there, getting a pop-up from Geraldo Perdomo and striking out Moreno on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.
Blubaugh, the majors' leader in relief innings, was pitching for the third time in four days. He returned for the eighth and paid for it. Marte led off, fell behind 0-2, and then hit the eighth pitch of his at-bat out.
Altuve was stranded after a one-out double in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Hader entered a tied game in the ninth and retired the side with 10 pitches. After the Astros went quietly in their half, Hader did not return for a second inning. He has worked multiple innings twice in 40 outings this season. Bryan King drew the assignment, his first outing since being recalled from Triple-A. Moreno served a one-out single to score Arizona's runner, and King allowed no further damage.
In the bottom of the 10th, Brandyn Garcia struck out Yordan Alvarez, retired Isaac Paredes on a pop-up, and struck out Altuve. The Astros could not move their extra-innings runner 90 feet.
Paredes drove in all three of Houston's runs. His bases-loaded, two-out single in the third gave the Astros a 2-0 lead, and his RBI single in the fifth, on a fly ball that fell in shallow center, made it 3-1. He reached 79 RBIs, passing Christian Walker for second among Astros hitters after Alvarez.
The third inning began with Yainer Diaz singling and taking third on a Taylor Trammell double. Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt induced a pop-out from Cam Smith and struck out Jeremy Peña. Alvarez was then pointed to first base, his 31st intentional walk of the season. Alvarez is the 15th player in MLB history to be walked intentionally at least 30 times in a season and the sixth American League player.
Paredes, behind 0-2, took two sweepers off the plate and then punched a fastball into right field for a two-run single. Entering the day, the Astros were second in the majors in OPS (.822) and fifth in average (.286) in bases-loaded, two-out situations. League-wide, teams had a .224 average and .660 OPS in those spots.
Starter Ethan Pecko, making his fourth major-league start, worked his first four innings scoreless. He wriggled out of a jam in the second after Corbin Carroll led off with a double and took third on a Nolan Arenado single. Pecko induced a pop-up by Max Kepler, struck out Tim Tawa, and got a ground out from Waldschmidt. Center fielder Daulton Varsho robbed Carroll of extra bases with a leaping catch at the wall to open the fourth. Pecko doffed his cap. He ended the inning at 66 pitches.
He began the fifth with the top of Arizona's order looming for a third look. Tawa's broken-bat grounder found open space to the right of a shifted infield for a leadoff single. Pecko pounced on a Waldschmidt comebacker, but Nootbaar lined a single that moved Tawa to third. Manager Joe Espada emerged and signaled for De Los Santos, who retired Perdomo on a sacrifice fly, scoring one of Pecko's runners, and Moreno on a groundout.
De Los Santos retired all five batters he faced. Pecko, who struggled with command in his first two starts, was sharper again Saturday. He walked one batter. He induced just three whiffs on 33 swings, but of 16 balls the Diamondbacks put in play against him, just four had an exit velocity above 95 mph.
According to Yahoo Sports.
