Houston evens the series
Brantley's early homer lifts Astros over Rangers in pitcher's duel
Sep 2, 2020, 9:39 pm
Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images
Astros Michael Brantley
After a sloppy, uncharacteristic loss in the series opener, the Astros welcomed the Rangers back to Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night to try and even the series and get back in the win column. Here is how the game went:
Final Score: Astros 2, Rangers 1.
Record: 20-15, second in the AL West.
Winning pitcher: Cristian Javier (4-1, 3.35 ERA).
Losing pitcher: Kolby Allard (0-4, 5.40 ERA).
Brantley gives Javier a lead to work with
Michael Brantley and the Astros did not wait around to get a big hit in Wednesday's game. In the bottom of the first, George Springer started Houston's night at the plate with a walk, setting up a two-run home run for Brantley, making it back-to-back games with a homer, giving Houston a 2-0 lead.
Professional hitter on display. #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/BQxoIoikMv
— Houston Astros (@astros) September 3, 2020
That provided Cristian Javier with a lead to work with, and he would maintain it well. After three perfect innings, the Rangers would get their first hit and run of the night on a solo home run that snuck into the Crawford Boxes in the top of the fourth, making it a 2-1 game.
Javier rebounded well from that, allowing just one more hit while nearly completing seven innings of one-run baseball. His final line: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 93 P.
Astros hold on to the lead to even the series
Brooks Raley would relieve Javier to complete the seventh, striking out the one batter he would face. Enoli Paredes was next out of Houston's bullpen to toss the top of the eighth and worked around a one-out single thanks to an inning-ending caught stealing by Martin Maldonado to keep it a one-run Houston lead.
Houston threatened to add insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth but would strand two runners to keep it 2-1 heading to the ninth. That set up Ryan Pressly for another save opportunity, and unlike the night before, would convert it to give the Astros the win and even the series.
Up Next: The finale of this three-game series will be an afternoon game at 1:10 PM Central on Thursday. It shapes up to be an exciting pitching matchup with Lance Lynn (4-1, 1.93 ERA) getting the start for the Rangers facing off against Zack Greinke (2-0, 2.68 ERA) for the Astros.
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Michael Wacha scattered four hits over six innings, Vinnie Pasquantino homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 2-0 for the second straight night Saturday to run their winning streak to six.
Wacha (1-3) once again received little run support, but the veteran right-hander made the meager production stand up on chilly evening at Kauffman Stadium. He struck out six while walking two and never allowed a runner past second base.
Steven Cruz worked the seventh for Kansas City, his seventh appearance this season without allowing a run. John Schreiber left runners on the corners in the eighth, and Carlos Estévez had a perfect ninth for his seventh save.
Bobby Witt Jr. doubled and scored in the first inning for the Royals, extending his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.
Framber Valdez (1-3) gave up a sacrifice fly to Mark Canha in the first inning and Pasquantino's shot down the right-field line in the fifth. Otherwise, the Astros left-hander kept Kansas City in check, allowing three hits and two walks over eight innings.
Valdez had tossed seven shutout innings against the Royals last August in a 3-2 victory.
The Astros, who have lost five straight at the K, have managed just nine hits while getting shut out over the first two games of the series. They had rolled into Kansas City having won three straight and five of their last six games.
Key moment
Isaac Parades hit a two-out double and Jeremy Peña followed with a single to give Houston runners on the corners in the eighth inning. Schreiber bounced back to strike out Christian Walker with a four-seam fastball to end the threat.
Key stat
The Royals have only scored seven runs in the 32 innings that Wacha has pitched this season.
Up next
RHP Hunter Brown (3-1, 1.16) tries to extend a 24-inning scoreless streak for Houston in the series finale Sunday. LHP Kris Bubic (2-1, 1.45) gets the start for Kansas City after tossing seven shutout innings against the Rockies his last time out.