ASTROS WALK IT OFF
Yainer Diaz homers in ninth inning to lift Astros to 5-4 win over Red Sox
Aug 19, 2024, 10:24 pm
Astros defeat the Red Sox, 5-4. Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images.
Yainer Diaz’s tiebreaking solo homer with one out in the ninth inning lifted the Houston Astros to a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.
YAINER TO THE MOON! BALLGAME!!! pic.twitter.com/SQ6EeYZVBW
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 20, 2024
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Mauricio Dubón in the eighth inning. Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen (3-2) struck out Yordan Alvarez on three pitches in the ninth before Diaz, who also homered Sunday, sent the next pitch deep to left-center field to give Houston its 11th victory in 12 games.
Josh Hader (6-6) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
The Astros won despite committing a season-high four errors on an uncharacteristically sloppy defensive night.
Jarren Duran hit a leadoff home run and Masataka Yoshida’s two-run homer in the sixth put the Red Sox up 4-2.
Red Sox starter Tanner Houck allowed eight hits and three runs — two earned — with eight strikeouts in six innings.
Houston starter Yusei Kikuchi gave up six hits and three runs — one earned — in 5 2/3 innings in his fourth start since a July 29th trade from Toronto.
The score was tied at 2-all when Romy Gonzalez reached to start the sixth on a throwing error by Jose Altuve. He was still on first with two outs when Kikuchi was lifted for Tayler Scott. Yoshida connected on his third pitch, smacking it off the railing on the wall in left field to give the Red Sox the 4-2 lead.
Jeremy Peña singled with no outs in the sixth and moved to third on a single by Victor Caratini. The Astros cut the lead to 4-3 when Peña scored on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Jon Singleton with one out.
Duran sent Kikuchi’s first pitch into the Crawford Boxes in left field to put the Red Sox up early. Rob Refsnyder and Rafael Devers hit back-to-back singles with one out in the first.
Gonzalez then reached on a fielder’s choice and Refsnyder was tagged out at home. The Red Sox made it 2-0 when Danny Jansen reached and Devers scored on an error by rookie third baseman Shay Whitcomb.
Alvarez doubled with no outs in the fourth before a single by Diaz. Alvarez was first called safe when he slid home on a ball hit by Peña. But the Red Sox challenged the call and it was overturned.
Caratini then singled on a grounder to right field to score Diaz and Peña and tie it at 2-all.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: RHP Justin Verlander will come off the injured list to start Wednesday’s finale. The 41-year-old ace hasn’t pitched since June 9 because of stiffness in his neck. He made two minor league rehabilitation starts, last throwing four innings for Double-A Corpus Christi on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Red Sox RHP Nick Pivetta (5-8, 4.49 ERA) opposes Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (9-6, 2.89) when the series continues Tuesday night.
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The World Series begins this Friday, featuring a matchup between two teams the Astros are very familiar with, the Dodgers and the Yankees.
After watching how the NLCS and ALCS played out, one thing has become very clear. Both of these teams are capable of scoring a lot of runs. Something the Astros struggled with in the regular season and in their two playoff games against the Tigers.
Houston only scored one run through the first 15 innings of their series with Detroit. And despite having a team OPS in the Top 10 for most of the season, they were only middle of the pack when it came to runs scored.
There's no way around it, if the Astros want to compete for a championship, they're going to have to improve their offense. To be fair, they're fully capable of winning the AL West as currently constructed, but it's hard to imagine this team going toe to toe with the top offenses in baseball and having success. Especially if Alex Bregman signs elsewhere this offseason.
Considering where the team is from a salary perspective, we doubt owner Jim Crane is looking to spend a ton of money this offseason. So if the club wants to improve the offense, they'll likely have to get creative. That could involve making some trades, or just getting more out of the players they already have. A change in their hitting approach could be the answer. Like taking more pitches and working more walks.
But who knows, maybe Crane will be more aggressive after watching his team take a step back over the past two seasons. When the Yankees missed the playoffs last year, they traded for Juan Soto, and that move is already paying huge dividends.
Yankees GM takes a shot at the Astros
Brian Cashman went out of his way to blame the Yankees' World Series drought on the Astros this week. And we all know Houston's history with both the Dodgers and Yankees.
If Astros fans were forced to choose, which team would they rather see win it all this year?
Don't miss the video above for the full discussion!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.