Houston's pitching had a rough night
Padres overpower Astros to even up series
Sep 4, 2021, 11:09 pm
Framber Valdez had one rough inning in an otherwise strong start in Saturday's game against the Padres. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
Framber Valdez had one rough inning in an otherwise strong start in Saturday's game against the Padres.
With a late go-ahead inning to take the opener on Friday, the Astros tried to get an impressive series victory with a win on Saturday in San Diego. The Padres denied that, though, by outslugging Houston to take the game.
Final Score: Padres 10, Astros 2
Astros' Record: 79-56, first in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Joe Musgrove (10-8)
Losing Pitcher: Framber Valdez (9-5)
Astros strike first, Padres respond against Valdez
Tucker does it again đź’Ł#ForTheH pic.twitter.com/IcrJaACYXf
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 5, 2021
After scoring the final runs of Friday night's opener, Houston's offense started the scoring in Saturday's middle game. With two outs in the top of the first, they strung together three straight singles, the third an RBI by Yuli Gurriel to put the Astros in front 1-0. Kyle Tucker doubled the lead in the top of the second, blasting a leadoff homer to make it back-to-back at-bats with homers.
San Diego responded by taking over the offensive momentum in the bottom of the inning, tagging Framber Valdez with four runs on four hits and a balk, putting Houston behind 4-2. Valdez rebounded well from that rough inning, getting through six innings and not allowing any more runs after the second. His final line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 92 P.
Padres keep scoring to even up the series
Cristian Javier took over for Valdez in the bottom of the seventh, a rough inning for him. He allowed a leadoff walk, which turned into a two-run homer by Manny Machado. He followed that with another walk, and with two outs, watched that turn into another two-run blast, extending San Diego's lead to 8-2.
After another scoreless inning by Houston's offense in the top of the eighth, Josh James took over out of the bullpen, making his 2021 debut in return from injury. He would also deal with the damage of a walk, allowing one to set up a two-out two-run homer to extend the Padres' lead to 10-2. That score would go final, with the Astros going down scoreless again in the top of the ninth, evening up the series 1-1 to set up a rubber game.
Up Next: The finale of this series will begin at 3:10 PM Central on Sunday. Luis Garcia (10-6, 3.23 ERA) will be on the mound for Houston, going opposite Chris Paddack (7-6, 4.98 ERA) for San Diego.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.