Houston wins in the tenth
Astros win over Angels in extras on an exciting tenth-inning rally
Apr 23, 2021, 10:48 pm
Yuli Gurriel lifted off in Friday's game against the Angels. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images.
Yuli Gurriel lifted off in Friday's game against the Angels.
By starting this four-game series and eight-game homestand with an impressive win over the Angels on Thursday night, the Astros looked to repeat that success to continue turning the tide on recent struggles. Friday night, they had their ace, Zack Greinke, on the mound to try and help them get back-to-back wins, and hopefully a repeat performance of when he was last on the bump when he went eight scoreless innings. Greinke would have a good night on the mound, but it would take extra innings for the Astros to pull out the win over the Angels:
Final Score (10 innings): Astros 5, Angels 4
Astros' Record: 9-10, fourth in AL West
Winning Pitcher: Ryan Pressly (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Raisel Iglesias (1-2)
Greinke gets hit around but finishes another quality start
After allowing two hits each in the first and second inning, though no runs, Zack Greinke tried to settle in to get his pitch count and momentum back on track. He did so in the third and fourth innings, allowing just one hit over that span, but then the Angels would tag him in the fifth.
Los Angeles would get four hits and two runs in that inning, including an RBI-double by Shohei Ohtani, re-elevating Greinke's pitch count that he had just worked back under control the innings prior. After a scoreless sixth, Greinke remained in the game in the seventh, getting through another inning and hitting the highest pitch count by an Astros pitcher this season. His final line: 7.0 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 107 P.
Astros finally crack Heaney before tying the game
Unfortunately for Houston's offense, Andrew Heaney was doing even better to that point. They put just two runners on base against him through the first six innings, one on a single in the bottom of the first and another on a hit batter in the fourth.
That changed in the bottom of the seventh, with Yordan Alvarez getting the second hit of the night with a one-out double to force Heaney out of the game, followed by a game-tying homer to the Crawford Boxes by Yuli Gurriel, making it a brand new game at 2-2.
Brand new ballgame 🤘#ForTheH pic.twitter.com/4chcBPHXcS
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 24, 2021
The game heads to extras
Ryne Stanek took over in the top of the eighth, getting two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning to keep the game tied. Houston's offense had that same outcome in their half, sending the game to the ninth. Hoping to give his team the chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning, Ryan Pressly would enter in the top of the ninth to keep the game tied.
Pressly would erase a leadoff double, keeping the score pat at 2-2. Michael Brantley started the inning by laying down a gorgeous bunt down the vacated third-base line, putting the winning run on base before being pinch-run for by Chas McCormick. Yuli Gurriel would come through with another big hit to extend the inning with a two-out single to move McCormick to second, but they would both get left stranded as the game would go to extras.
Houston gets an incredible rally in the tenth to win
Ryan Pressly, who used 13 pitches to get through the ninth, remained in the game for the top of the tenth and was greeted by a first-pitch RBI-single by David Fletcher to score the free runner on second to put Los Angeles back in front 3-2. Albert Pujols would add another with two outs, an RBI-single to make it a 4-2 game.
Houston would try to rally in the bottom of the tenth, moving the free runner Kyle Tucker to third with a sac fly, then home on an RBI-single by Myles Straw, making it a one-run game. Jason Castro would nearly tie the game with a ball into the right-field corner that would bounce out of play for a ground-rule double to keep the tying run on third and winning run on second.
That brought Carlos Correa to the plate, who tied the game with a sac fly and moved Castro to third. Robel Garcia would pinch-hit next and would play hero to bring in the winning run on a walk-off RBI single making it a three-run inning to complete the incredible rally to get back-to-back wins.
Up Next: The third game of this series will be a Saturday afternoon start, with first pitch at 3:10 PM Central. The pitching matchup will be Griffin Canning (1-1, 5.68 ERA) for Los Angeles and Jake Odorizzi (0-2, 10.57 ERA) for Houston, looking to provide his new team better stuff than he's given so far this year.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.