Astros complete a sweep of the Rangers

Astros daily report presented by APG&E: 3 hits from the 5-3 win

Chris Campise
Jul 21, 2019, 4:18 pm
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

With both the weekend series and season series locked up, the Astros were going for a sweep of this three-game set on Sunday. Here is how the finale unfolded:

Final Score: Astros 5, Rangers 3.

Record: 64-37, first in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Rogelio Armenteros (1-0, 1.93 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Lance Lynn (12-6, 3.93 ERA).

1) Brantley starts things with a bang

Houston wasted no time getting on the board on Sunday. With Springer receiving the day off, everyone else shifted up a spot in the order.

This put Alex Bregman second in the lineup, and he worked a one-out walk, bringing up Michael Brantley in the top of the first. He turned around the first pitch he saw, hitting it into Houston's bullpen for the quick 2-0 lead.

After the Rangers cut the lead to one run in the third, the Astros put together a big fifth inning to extend their lead. It started with a two-out opposite-field solo home run by Jose Altuve to make it a two-run lead again at 3-1.

They continued to fight with two outs, getting a single and a walk to set up an RBI-single by Yordan Alvarez to extend the lead to 4-1.

Brantley struck again in the bottom of the eighth, launching his second homer of the day into the upper deck in right field. That added an insurance run, extending the lead to 5-2.

2) Armenteros goes five one-run innings 

Rogelio Armenteros did well in his first official start on Sunday. He had only one bad inning, giving up a walk and a couple of hits in the third to allow his only run of the day.

Other than that, he was able to get through five innings, but with his pitch count at 91 was not asked to go any further.

Armenteros’ final line: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR.

3) Closing out the sweep

With Armenteros' day done after five innings, Josh James took over on the mound to start the sixth. He would get two outs in before allowing a solo home run to make it a 4-2 game and prompting the call for Collin McHugh.

McHugh would get the final out of the sixth as well as a scoreless seventh. Will Harris was next out of the bullpen, and he was able to work around a couple of hits for a scoreless inning.

Roberto Osuna came in to close things out in the ninth and did so, despite allowing a one-out solo home run, to complete the sweep.

Up Next: With this series over, the Astros will continue this homestand tomorrow with the first of three games against the A's. Monday's game is slated for a 7:10 PM start, and the pitching matchup is expected to be newly-acquired Homer Bailey (8-6, 4.69 ERA) for his new team, Oakland, going against the surging Gerrit Cole (10-5, 3.12 ERA) for Houston who has not recorded a loss since May 22nd.

The Astros daily report is presented by APG&E.

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Houston takes the opener

Astros continue march towards playoff berth with extra-inning win over D-backs

Altuve's homer starting the scoring for Houston on Friday night. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
After a solid showing to take the three of the four-game series in Arlington against the Rangers to start the week, the Astros returned home for three against the Diamondbacks in a weekend series. They would have a slow start to the opener but would ultimately come away victorious.

Final Score (10 innings): Astros 4, Diamondbacks 3

Astros' Record: 87-60, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Ryne Stanek (3-4)

Losing Pitcher: Tyler Clippard (1-1)

Bielak makes the impromptu start

With Luis Garcia having to move his start ahead by a day on Thursday instead of Friday with Framber Valdez's finger cut, Brandon Bielak made a start for Houston in the opener against Arizona. He didn't go as deep as he probably would have wanted and certainly ventured out of his comfort zone with traffic on the bases.

He loaded the bases in the top of the first, allowing a single and two walks, but was able to strand all three to keep it a scoreless game. He rebounded with a 1-2-3 second, but he dealt with a threat again in the third as back-to-back singles pressured him to start the inning. He would get back-to-back strikeouts, but that's as far as he would go as Houston moved on to Blake Taylor. Taylor got the final out of the third on one pitch, then erased a two-out double in the top of the fourth.

Altuve breaks up the no-no with a go-ahead homer

Brooks Raley took over in the top of the fifth, but in his three batters, he faced allowed a single while getting two outs before Cristian Javier took over to end the frame. Javier allowed the first run of the game in the top of the sixth, a leadoff solo homer to Kole Calhoun to put the Diamondbacks in front 1-0 before he finished the inning.

Madison Bumgarner didn't allow a single hit to the Astros through the first five and two-thirds innings. He allowed a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth, which proved costly as Jose Altuve would get the first knock of the game for Houston, a two-run go-ahead homer. Phil Maton was the next reliever for the Astros in the top of the seventh, maintaining the new one-run lead by erasing a leadoff single.

Astros get the win in extras

The Diamondbacks tied it up in the top of the eighth against Kendall Graveman, getting a leadoff single followed by a walk, then later an RBI single to knot things up 2-2. Houston stranded a runner in the bottom of the eighth, then brought in Ryan Pressly, who tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to keep the game tied.

Despite getting the winning run in scoring position with a leadoff ground-rule double by Jason Castro to start the bottom of the ninth, they would strand it as the game went to extras. Arizona scored their free runner in the top of the tenth, getting a sac fly to move it to third then going in front on an RBI single.

The Astros matched that and more in the bottom of the inning, moving their runner to third on a lineout to start the frame, followed by an intentional walk to Yordan Alvarez. Jake Meyers tied the game with an RBI single, then after another walk to load the bases, Chas McCormick was hit by a pitch to bring in the winning run, moving the Astros closer to clinching their playoff berth.

Up Next: The middle game of this three-game set will have a start time of 6:10 PM Central on Saturday. Tyler Gilbert (2-2, 3.15 ERA) is expected to make a start for Arizona, while Lance McCullers Jr. (12-4, 3.12 ERA) will be on the mound for Houston.

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