Houston's bullpen woes continue
Astros blow four-run lead before losing in extras to Giants
Aug 12, 2020, 12:07 am
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Astros Jose Altuve
After snapping a five-game losing streak with a win to start the three-game series with the Giants on Monday, the Astros had a chance to secure the series victory on Tuesday. Here is how the middle game went:
Final Score (10 innings): Giants 7, Astros 6.
Record: 7-10, third in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Trevor Gott (1-0, 1.50 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Cy Sneed (0-3, 6.75 ERA).
Astros build another early lead behind another solid Bielak start
The Giants would strike first on Tuesday, hitting a solo home run off of Brandon Bielak in the top of the second to grab a 1-0 lead. Houston's offense would answer right away in the bottom of the inning, getting a one-out triple by Kyle Tucker, followed by an RBI-double by Martin Maldonado to tie the game. Later in the frame, a go-ahead two-RBI double by Josh Reddick gave Houston a 3-1 lead.
Breg bombs x Crawford Boxes are a perfect match. #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/FlpITVb0w4
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 12, 2020
Alex Bregman made it a three-run lead in the bottom of the third, leading off the inning with a solo home run. San Francisco would get that run back in the top of the fifth, getting a run on a walk and two hits in the inning, making it 4-2. With that extended inning, Bielak would hit 84 pitches, and that would be it for him. His final line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.
Houston extends their lead, San Francisco rallies to tie and force extras
First out of the bullpen was Enoli Paredes for the top of the sixth. He made it a 1-2-3 inning, retiring the Giants in order. In the bottom of the inning, the first three batters all singled to load the bases with no outs. It looked like it may go to waste after a third-to-home double play left runners on first and second with two outs, but Myles Straw would deliver an RBI-single. Jose Altuve got a much-needed RBI-single in the next at-bat to push the lead to 6-2.
Paredes returned in the top of the seventh but would get two outs and walk a batter before Dusty Baker went to his bullpen again to bring out Blake Taylor. Taylor would get the third out, but not before issuing a walk to set up a three-run home run by former-Astro Hunter Pence, making it a one-run game at 6-5.
Still a one-run game in the top of the eighth, Andre Scrubb took over on the mound and kept the lead intact by stranding a leadoff walk and two-out single to complete the inning. After a scoreless bottom of the eighth for Houston's offense, they would bring in their current closer, Ryan Pressly, for the second-straight night. He would blow the save, allowing a walk and single to put runners on the corners to set up the tying RBI-single. He would recover to get the final two outs, sending the 6-6 game to the bottom of the ninth, where Houston would come up empty, forcing extra innings.
Giants get a go-ahead run and win in extras
In what has seemed like a regular occurrence in 2020, Cy Sneed was on the mound to start the tenth inning. He would not fare any better than his last outing, where he blew a one-run lead in the thirteenth and allowed a walk-off to Oakland, allowing back-to-back singles to start the inning to put the Giants ahead 7-6 for their first lead of the night. He would get two more outs before Houston brought in their new reliever, Brooks Raley, to get the third out.
In the bottom half, George Springer would pinch-run for Michael Brantley, and moved to third on a groundout to start the inning, but would get left stranded there as the Astros would fall in extra innings, allowing the Giants to tie the series.
Up Next: The final game of this three-game set will start Wednesday at 6:10 PM Central, an earlier start than the first two games. The pitching matchup is not yet finalized with San Francisco still taking their rotation day-by-day, but Houston will send Zack Greinke (0-0, 3.00 ERA) to the mound.
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Jacob deGrom went eight innings to win his fourth consecutive start for the Texas Rangers, who got Jake Burger's solo home run off Hunter Brown in a 1-0 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday night in an anticipated pitchers' duel that certainly lived up to expectations.
Two-time Cy Young Award winner deGrom (4-1) is having quite a comeback after missing most of the last two seasons following Tommy John surgery. The 36-year-old right-hander struck out seven, two of those to end innings with two runners on base, while walking one and giving up five hits.
Brown (6-2), who is 10 years younger that deGrom, struck out nine without a walk while scattering three hits in his first career complete game. The righty was tied for the major league lead in wins and retired the first 12 batters he faced before Adolis García lined a double to left to start the fifth.
Shawn Armstrong worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his second save.
Burger went deep leading off the sixth, a 394-foot drive into the Texas bullpen in right-center for his fourth homer of the season.
Key moment
Rangers right fielder García made a sliding catch of a sinking liner by Mauricio Dubón for the final out of the seventh when Houston had a runner at second base. García had several nice plays, including a sliding catch near the line after running a long way to open the fourth.
Key stat
Bruce Bochy got his 2,195th career win to break a tie with Sparky Anderson for the sixth-most by an MLB manager. Bochy, who turned 70 last month, is in his 28th season as a manager, his third in Texas.
Up next
Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 1.78 ERA) goes into Friday night having allowed only two earned runs over 25 innings in his last four starts (3-0). Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. (0-1, 15.75) makes only his third start for Houston since the 2022 World Series.