Astros Beat Rangers
via Texas Rangers
ARLINGTON — Josh Reddick and Yuli Gurriel came through with big home runs when the Astros were down early, but it was a sacrifice fly off the bat of Evan Gattis in the 10th inning that paid the biggest dividend for the Astros on Wednesday night.
Gattis lined a sac fly to center field off reliever Chris Martin to score Jose Altuve with the eventual winning run as the Astros came back from four runs down to beat the Rangers, 5-4, and sweep the two-game set at Globe Life Park.
It was Houston’s eighth straight victory over its division rival.
“We’ve been playing some long games. Anything we can do to scratch a run out and get on the airplane and go home,” Gattis said.
Collin McHugh threw three scoreless innings in relief to improve to 4-0 after reliever Will Harris escaped a jam in the sixth. Ken Giles worked the 10th for his 12th save.
“Our bullpen did exactly what we needed,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “Getting down by four, we didn’t have much margin for error. The bullpen holds it while we can come back and have a big win. It will be nice to get home.”
McHugh, the former starter who was pushed to the bullpen this offseason with the trade for starter Gerrit Cole, needed 45 pitches to get through three innings, allowing only a hit. He lowered his ERA to 0.90 in 40 innings pitched.
“It was kind of on me to go as long as I can, and obviously a tie game on the road, one run is going to end it,” McHugh said. “We tried to keep it where it was for as long as we could, and we were able to pull through in the end.”
Cole grinded through five innings, throwing 108 pitches. He allowed four runs and a season-high eight hits, including a homer to Shin-Soo Choo in the third inning, while striking out six batters. His last pitch was 100 mph.
“This was a fun game,” Cole said. “Throw the [pitching] line aside. Nobody cares about that. It’s about getting the ‘W,’ it’s about guys contributing from all ends — defensively, offensively. McHugh had a hell of a game, Giles looked as good as he can look to lock the ballgame down. Just a complete team effort.”
The Astros trailed, 4-0, before scoring three times in the fourth inning, including a two-run homer by Reddick and an RBI single by Alex Bregman.
Gurriel led off the fifth inning with a solo homer to left against Rangers starter Mike Minor to tie the game at 4.
“Once you’re within two runs, you’re a bloop and a blast, a walk and a homer or a couple of doubles away from making it interesting,” Hinch said. “It’s kind of nice to get back into it with one swing [by Reddick].”
