Rangers Lose In 14 Innings
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Pinch hitter Hank Conger picked a fine time to record his first hit with the Astros, a 14th-inning home run that lifted Houston to a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.
The 367-foot rope didn’t clear the right-field wall by much.
“I hit it good,” Conger said. “I just didn’t think it would be high enough.”
Conger, a switch-hitting catcher who had only two at-bats on the season after being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels during the offseason, batted from the left side against Texas right-hander Logan Verrett, the Rangers’ sixth reliever of the game.
The two-run blast gave Houston its first series win of the season and evened the Astros’ record at 3-3. The Rangers, looking to win consecutive games for the first time this season, dropped to 3-4.
“I joked with our team that I don’t know what took me so long to put Conger in,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s always prepared, but obviously to come in like that is not the easiest thing to do.”
Closing out the win wasn’t easy for the Houston bullpen. A fourth hit batter since the eighth inning loaded the bases for Texas in the bottom of the 14th. Samuel Deduno, Houston’s seventh reliever of the game, finally ended the four-hour, 24-minute affair and recorded his first save by getting Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor to line out to right.
Texas left 15 runners on base.
“We didn’t get the hit we needed,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “But they battled their
butts off all game long. That’s their identity, their DNA. That’s what they’re going to be about all year long. They believe in that.”
After making a late comeback from 4-0 to force extra innings, the Rangers were inches away from completing the rally in the bottom of the 10th. However, Astros right fielder George Springer made a tremendous leaping catch, snaring Texas center fielder Leonys Martin’s two-out bid for a walk-off grand slam just as it cleared the top of the wall.
“It did go out, but it was in Springer’s glove,” Banister said. “Give the kid credit for robbing Leonys of a home run.”
After Springer hauled in the catch, he hustled back into an Astros dugout that was suddenly alive again.
“I didn’t know if the park was going to hold it, but at that point a walk-off single is as bad as a walk-off grand slam,” Hinch said. “It was a bit of a momentum-turner for us.”
Texas erased the four-run deficit with two-run rallies in the seventh and eighth innings to force the first extra-inning game of the season for both teams.
Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel seemed to have things well under control. The left-hander extended his scoreless-innings streak to start the season to 13 before the Rangers got to him in the seventh.
Keuchel avoided further damage in the inning to keep Houston ahead 4-2, but he didn’t return for the eighth inning.
A trio of Astros relievers — Pat Neshek, Joe Thatcher and Chad Qualls — combined to give up two more runs on just one hit. Thatcher and Qualls each walked a batter in the eighth. Qualls walked Odor with the bases loaded to make it 4-3.
Texas scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly from catcher Carlos Corporan after the Odor walk.
Rangers starter Colby Lewis pitched into the eighth inning, but he couldn’t put out a fire in the second inning. The Astros scored four times, stroking a double, triple and two home runs.
With usual first baseman and cleanup hitter Chris Carter slumping and sitting out, third baseman Luis Valbuena took over the No. 4 spot in the lineup and led off the inning by poking a line drive just inside the right-field foul pole for a 1-0 lead.
After consecutive outs, the bottom of the order inflicted the rest of the damage with left-fielder and No. 7 hitter Colby Rasmus tripling and scoring on first baseman Marwin Gonzalez’s double that bounced off the bottom of the right-field wall.
Center fielder and No. 9 hitter Jake Marisnick capped the rally with a two-run shot into the left-field bleachers to give Keuchel a 4-0 cushion.
Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin snapped an 0-for-18 slump with a two-run single up the middle in the seventh to make it 4-2.
Lewis gave up four runs on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings.
