Astros rally again in grand fashion to stun Rangers
The Rangers homered five times, including four in the first four innings Tuesday night but it wasn’t enough. The Astros also had two homers, including a game-changing, go-ahead grand slam by Marwin Gonzalez in the eighth inning that lifted them to an 8-7 win at Minute Maid Park.
How Rangers pitchers fared: Alex Claudio pitched impressively over four-plus innings and left with a 5-3 lead after Marwin Gonzalez led off the fifth with a homer. Claudio retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced. Jose Altuve’s two-run homer pulled the Astros to within 5-2 in the fourth. Claudio’s previous long outing in the majors was 4 1/3. That was out of the bullpen last season. Jose Leclerc replaced Claudio and allowed a hit and had one strike out in the fifth. Sam Dyson pitched a 1-2-3 sixth but walked the lead-off hitter in the seventh before getting a long fly out to right. Dario Alvarez replaced Dyson to face the left-hitting pinch-hitter Josh Reddick and struck him out swinging on four pitches. Keone Kela took over with the top of the order coming up and got George Springer to fly out to deep center field to end the seventh. Kela started the eighth but ran into trouble after a lead-off double and walk. A single loaded the bases with one out before Kela forced a foul out to third for out No. 2. Gonzalez ripped a 2-1 95 mph fastball down the line in right for a grand slam and 7-5 Astros’ lead. George Springer added a run-scoring single to make it 8-5 against Jeremy Jeffress.
How Rangers hitters fared: The Rangers hit four homers in the first four innings against Astros’ starter Mike Fiers. Three of them were solo shots. Delino DeShields led off with a homer in the first, Joey Gallo homered in the second and Elvis Andrus and Jonathan Lucroy homered in the fourth. Lucroy’s homer was a two-run shot and gave the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Nomar Mazara’s two-run homer in the ninth pulled the Rangers to within a run and Lucroy followed with an infield single. Pinch-runner, in for Lucroy, moved to second on a wild pitch and then third on Shin-Soo Choo’s ground out but Will Harris, who replaced Luke Gregerson and retired Ryan Rua, Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Gomez to preserve the Astros’ win.
Notables: Carlos Beltran’s double in the eighth was the 1,041st of his career. He’s tied with Pete Rose for third all-time for extra-base hits for a switch-hitter.
Stefan Stevenson: 817-390-7760, @StevensonFWST
Texas | 110 | 300 | 002 | — | 7 | 10 | 0 |
Houston | 000 | 210 | 05x | — | 8 | 11 | 0 |
Texas AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
DeShields lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .256 |
Rua lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .171 |
Choo rf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .256 |
Gomez cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .233 |
Odor 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .181 |
Napoli 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .155 |
Gallo 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .207 |
Andrus ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .287 |
Mazara dh | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .245 |
Lucroy c | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .232 |
Kozma pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
Totals 37 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 16 | ||
Houston AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
Springer rf-cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .240 |
Beltran dh | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 |
Altuve 2b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .326 |
Correa ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .226 |
Gattis c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .317 |
Gurriel 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .314 |
Gonzalez lf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .228 |
Bregman 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .253 |
Marisnick cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .292 |
Reddick ph-rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .284 |
Totals 35 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 5 | ||
LOB—Texas 5, Houston 6. 2B—Gomez (7), Beltran (4). HR—DeShields (1), off Fiers; Gallo (8), off Fiers; Andrus (4), off Fiers; Lucroy (2), off Fiers; Mazara (5), off Gregerson; Altuve (4), off Claudio; Gonzalez (6), off Claudio; Gonzalez (7), off Kela. RBIs—DeShields (3), Gallo (17), Andrus (11), Mazara 2 (20), Lucroy 2 (6), Springer (16), Altuve 2 (11), Gonzalez 5 (17). Runners left in scoring position—Texas 2 (DeShields, Napoli); Houston 2 (Beltran, Altuve). RISP—Texas 0 for 5; Houston 3 for 7. Runners moved up—Odor, Choo.
Texas | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Claudio | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 1.93 |
Leclerc | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 0.82 |
Dyson, H, 1 | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 14.54 |
Alvarez, H, 1 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.00 |
Kela, L, 0-1, BS, 1-1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 4.91 |
Jeffress | 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5.56 |
Houston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Fiers | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 93 | 5.68 |
Hoyt, W, 1-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 0.00 |
Gregerson | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 6.75 |
Harris, S, 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 1.59 |
Claudio pitched to 1 batter in the 5th. Gregerson pitched to 2 batters in the 9th. Inherited runners-scored—Alvarez 1-0, Kela 1-0. WP—Harris. Umpires—Home, Pat Hoberg; First, Rob Drake; Second, Tony Randazzo; Third, Gerry Davis. T—3:13. A—26,208 (42,060).
This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Astros rally again in grand fashion to stun Rangers."