A TOUCHDOWN OF A TIME!

Former Texans player gets taste of Astros road-hate up close, leaves 2 fans with big smiles

Former Texans player gets taste of Astros road-hate up close, leaves 2 fans with big smiles
Arian Foster catches an Astros game in Seattle. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

Sometimes the stars align to make for a pretty cool moment. And when you can throw in some unintentional, lighthearted fun: even better.

Hey Texans fans- remember Arian Foster? Of course you do. There’s only been about 6 great Texans in the history of the franchise, and he’s certainly one of them. Who are the other 5? Andre Johnson, JJ Watt, and you can fight about the rest.

Over the weekend Foster, who also goes by the musical alias “Bobby Feeno,” realized that he had purchased too many tickets to the Astros-Mariners matchup on Saturday. With no way to get a refund, Foster offered them on Twitter with the caveat, the best response would win them.

Shortly after, Foster announced the tickets were spoken for. For the moment, that’s all we knew. More on that in a minute.

In the meantime, Foster did some fun tweets reacting to the experience of being at the game.

He gave us a firsthand glimpse of the crowd. We can immediately see at least one (seemingly cold) Astros fan in the crowd.

Then he showed off his Ken Griffey Jr. stadium giveaway bobblehead.

Next, he got to hear some road hatred from the Seattle faithful when Jose Altuve walked to the plate.

After the game, Foster posed for a pic with the lucky couple he had given the tickets to. They were lifelong Mariners fans who are both fighting cancer.

The gentleman, named Dayne, was quick to express his appreciation to Foster after the game. But maybe TOO quick…

Whoops. The misspelling of “Arian” as “Aiden” was enough to make Dayne’s son cringe.

Foster was unfazed by the typo, though, and added to the pleasantries on the original Twitter thread.

The son assured Arian he’d help his dad Dayne with his spelling next time.

And if the night wasn’t perfect enough, they got to watch a vintage Justin Verlander performance on the way to a 4-0 Astros victory. Ok, maybe Mariners fans wouldn’t appreciate that AS much, but they’ll always have the memories and the Griffey, Jr. bobblehead!

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
The Astros beat the Orioles, 10-7. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.

Jeremy Peña and Christian Walker each hit a three-run homer, and the Houston Astros outslugged the Baltimore Orioles 10-7 on Friday night.

Colton Cowser went deep for Baltimore, but the Orioles couldn’t pull this game out despite twice cutting a four-run deficit to one.

Steven Okert (2-2) got the win in relief for Houston, and the Astros — who are without injured closer Josh Hader and lefty reliever Bennett Sousa — held on. Houston signed veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel and he was with the team, but the AL West-leading Astros didn’t use him. Bryan Abreu struck out four to end the game and get his second save.

Rookie catcher Samuel Basallo, who agreed to an eight-year, $67 million contract before the game, did not start for the Orioles, but entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and tagged out a runner at the plate the following inning.

Peña’s drive to left capped a four-run third that included two Baltimore errors. Jeremiah Jackson’s two-run double made it 4-3 in the fourth, but after Orioles starter Cade Povich (2-7) was pulled with two outs in the fifth, Yennier Cano came on and immediately gave up Walker’s homer.

The Orioles trailed 7-6 after Cowser’s solo shot in the seventh, but pinch-hitter Victor Caratini’s two-run double in the eighth made it a three-run game, and Peña’s comebacker bounced off reliever Corbin Martin and into shallow right-center field for an RBI double.

Orioles infielder Vimael Machín hit a solo homer in the eighth in his first big league plate appearance since 2022.

Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr. allowed three runs in four innings after coming off the injured list (right finger blister).

Key moment

Jackson nearly made a diving catch on Caratini’s hit with two outs in the eighth, but once the ball got past him in right, two runs scored to make it 9-6.

Key stat

The Astros improved to 15-8 in games in which their opponent starts a left-handed pitcher.

Up next

Cristian Javier (1-1) starts for Houston on Saturday night against Dean Kremer (9-9) of the Orioles.

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome