ASTROS TAKE THE SERIES!

Astros move above .500 for 1st time this year, beat Mets 10-5

Astros Corey Julks, Yainer Diaz, Jake Meyers
Astros defeat the Mets in extras 10-5. Composite Getty Image.

The Houston Astros moved over .500 for the first time this season, beating the New York Mets 10-5 on Sunday for their ninth win in 10 games as Jake Myers hit a tiebreaking single in a five-run 11th inning.

Houston star Jose Altuve was ejected in the seventh after he threw his bat and helmet when umpires called him out on what appeared to be a foul ball.

Brandon Nimmo hit his 100th career homer for the Mets, a tying two-run drive in the seventh off Bryan Abreu.

With just a few thousand fans left at Citi Field after a 2-hour, 47-minute rain delay in the middle of the ninth, Chas McCormick put the Astros ahead 5-4 with an RBI single in the 10th off Adam Ottavino.

Nimmo responded with a tying double starting the bottom half against Tayler Scott (4-2), who stranded the potential winning run at third when Mark Vientos grounded out.

Matt Festa (0-1), a New York native from St. Joseph by the Sea High School in Staten Island, made his Mets debut and first big league appearance this season and gave up all five runs in bottom half. Myers hit a run-scoring single, Joey Loperfido followed with a two-run single and Trey Cabbage added a two-run double.

Houston (42-41) opened the season 7-19 and was 12-24 before play on May 9. The Astros took two of three from the Mets and finished 17-8 in June.

The Mets reached the halfway point at 40-41, rebounding after they dropped to 24-35 in early June. They have been outscored 29-9 in extra innings this season, going 3-8 in those games

The Astros had a 4-2 lead and runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh when Altuve appeared to foul a ball off his left foot. The ball went on three hops to Vientos at third, and he threw to first as Altuve remained around the batter’s box, hopping. James Jean, umpiring behind the plate for the first time after making his major league debut Friday, didn’t signal a foul ball.

Altuve argued and manager Joe Espada came onto the field. The four umpires conferenced — that type of call is not subject to a video review — and crew chief Alan Porter signaled the out call. Altuve then slammed his helmet and bat was ejected for the second time in his big league career, the first since Aug. 6, 2016, when he was tossed for arguing balls and strikes with Porter.

Mets starter Luis Severino allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings. Houston’s Shawn Dubin, starting a bullpen game, pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings with three walks.

Jon Singleton put Houston ahead in the second with his sixth home run of the season and first since May 21. Yainer Diaz hit an RBI single in a two-run fifth that included Meyers’ run-scoring groundout, and Altuve blooped an RBI single in the sixth for a 4-0 lead.

Held hitless for five innings, the Mets cut the gap in the sixth against Seth Martinez on Vientos’ two-out, two-run double over leaping third baseman Alex Bregman.

Nimmo tied the score in the seventh with his 13th home run this season, a two-run drive off Bryan Abreu.

New York optioned right-hander Tylor Megill and left-hander Danny Young to Triple-A Syracuse, and selected the contracts of lefty Tyler Jay and Festa from its top farm team. Outfielder Duke Ellis was designated for assignment and lefty Brooks Raley (elbow inflammation) was transferred to the 60-day IL.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: RHP Jake Bloss (right shoulder discomfort) threw a 20-pitch bullpen.

Mets: RHP Edwin Díaz pitched batting practice against players from the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. Barring rainouts, he can return July 6 from his 10-day suspension for using prohibited grip substances.

UP NEXT

Astros: RHP Hunter Brown (5-5, 4.37 ERA) starts Monday’s series opener at Toronto, which is going with RHP Yariel Rodriguez (0-2, 5.94 ERA).

Mets: LHP David Peterson (3-0, 3.67 ERA) will be on the mound Monday night for the Mets at Washington, and the Nationals are going with LHP MacKenzie Gore (6-7, 3.60 ERA).

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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