Astros complete the sweep with a walk-off win

Astros daily report: Astros 9, A's 8

Chris Campise
Apr 7, 2019, 4:50 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Houston was going for the sweep against the A's on Sunday. Here's how the long, crazy game went down:

Final Score: Astros 9, A's 8

Record: 5-5, third in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Roberto Osuna (1-0).

Losing pitcher: Blake Treinen (0-1).

Star of the game: The entire batting order contributed in Sunday's game in some fashion or another, whether it was a timely walk or a big home run. Alex Bregman went 3 for 4 with the huge sac fly that tied the game 8-8 in the eighth, Aledmys Diaz had four RBIs, but it was Jose Altuve who played hero, working the walk-off walk to win the game.

Notes: Peacock struggled heavily in the first inning, loading the bases with no outs. After a lucky and timely double play to keep the hopes of a scoreless inning alive, a high fly ball hit the roof and landed fair to score two runs, giving Oakland the early 2-0 advantage. The Astros created their own luck in the bottom of the inning, getting back-to-back RBI singles from Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa to tie the game before Aledmys Diaz pulled a ball to opposite field, enough to deflect off of Stephen PIscotty's glove and into the stands to make it a three-run home run and give Houston a 5-2 lead. The scoring continued in the second, with the A's getting a two-run homer to trim the lead to 5-4 before Houston battled back in their half of the inning, loading the bases before walking in a run to end Mike Fiers' day in just the second inning with the Astros up 6-4.

The scoring would slow down a bit in the innings after that, though the A's did get back to within a run with an RBI-double in the fourth to make it 6-5. Peacock managed to complete five innings before his day was done, allowing five runs on seven hits along with a walk. Josh James was first out of the bullpen in the top of the sixth and allowed Oakland to regain the lead after a two-run home run put them ahead 7-6. James would return for a scoreless seventh, then Hector Rondón took over in the eighth, allowing a solo home run to extend Oakland's lead to 8-6. Tony Kemp came through in the bottom of the eighth, getting a solo homer of his own to get Houston back within one at 8-7 before Alex Bregman would get a sac fly later in the inning to tie things up heading to the ninth. Roberto Osuna pitched the top of the ninth and retired Oakland in order, then the Astros got to work in the bottom of the inning to get the bases loaded for Jose Altuve who came through with the walk-off walk to win the game.

Up next: The Astros will stay in Houston and continue the six-game homestand tomorrow night with the first of three games against the Yankees getting underway at 6 PM. We'll get to watch the aces of both teams go head to head as Justin Verlander takes the mound for Houston opposite of Masahiro Tanaka for New York.

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Houston drops first of three

Mariners heat up late to take series opener over Astros

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

With the playoffs just a little over a week away, the Astros started their last week of regular-season games in Seattle against the Mariners. A couple of wins against them would secure Houston's spot as the AL West's second playoff participant, with Oakland all but having locked up the first spot sitting six games in front of Houston with seven left to play. Here is a quick rundown of the opener from T-Mobile Park:

Final Score: Mariners 6, Astros 1.

Record: 27-27, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Marco Gonzalez (7-2, 3.06 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 4.24 ERA).

Bitter end to an impressive start for McCullers Jr.

Both starting pitchers would take a scoreless deep late into Monday night's game. While the Astros were trying to figure out Marco Gonzalez, Lance McCullers Jr. was repeating the success of his last start, a seven-inning two-hit start against the Rangers.

McCullers Jr. allowed a two-out walk in the bottom of the first inning, then proceeded to retire the next fourteen batters before a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth gave the Mariners their first hit of the night. He would go on to finish the sixth before things unraveled in the seventh.

A leadoff walk would result in a run after an error by Jose Altuve left runners on first and second, setting up an RBI-double to give the Mariners the first run of the night and a 1-0 lead. McCullers Jr. looked like he was going to cap off his night by stranding the runners on second and third after back-to-back strikeouts, but before he could get the last out of the inning allowed a three-run home run to blow the game open at 4-0. His final line: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 102 P.

Mariners take the opener

Despite getting several hits against him along the way, Houston could not get anything substantial going against Gonzalez, who would shutout the Astros over eight innings of work. After Enoli Paredes finished the seventh, Brandon Bielak would take over out of Houston's bullpen for the bottom of the eighth.

He struggled mightily, loading the bases with no outs, including a hit batter before allowing a two-RBI single to extend Seattle's lead to 6-0. The Astros would get on the board in the top of the ninth, getting a two-out double by Carlos Correa, who would score on an RBI-single by Josh Reddick. That would be too little, too late as the 6-1 score would go final as the Mariners took the opener, keeping the Astros' magic number at two.

Up Next: The middle game of this three-game set will be another 8:10 PM Central start on Tuesday. On the mound will be Framber Valdez (4-3, 3.82 ERA) for the Astros and Ljay Newsome (0-1, 6.35 ERA) for the Mariners.

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