Guzman Caps Rally In Rangers' 6-5 Win Over Houston
HOUSTON (AP) — Ronald Guzman said he is having the best week of his life, and after Saturday, it's hard to argue.
Guzman's first career homer tied the game in the eighth inning, and he put the Rangers ahead with an infield single in the 10th as Texas rallied from five runs down to beat the Houston Astros 6-5.
The Rangers, who snapped a five-game losing streak, loaded the bases with one out off Will Harris (0-1) before Guzman sent a hard grounder up the middle that Harris tried to grab. It ricocheted off Harris' glove, allowing Jurickson Profar to score.
"I was just ready to hit," Guzman said. "They challenged me, so I was going to do my best to put the ball in play. I wasn't thinking about homers, I was going to hit the ball hard somewhere and make it happen."
Harris struck out Ryan Rua and induced a groundout by Juan Centeno to end the inning.
"He's at 60 feet. He doesn't have much time," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Guzman's hit off of Harris. "He's just got to react and got a little unlucky that it kicked off of him. If he catches it, it's probably a double play. If he gets out of the way somehow, it's probably a double play."
Guzman was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Thursday to take the place of injured shortstop Elvis Andrus. He got his first career hit in Friday's game.
"We talked about it the first day with some of these guys, with some of our guys down," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "It's a great opportunity for some of these young guys to show up."
Keone Kela (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win. Chris Martin allowed consecutive singles to start the 10th but induced lineouts from Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel. Alex Claudio came on and retired Josh Reddick on a grounder to earn his first save.
"Obviously, at that point of our order, we feel really good," Hinch said. "Get a couple of guys on with no outs, put some pressure on them and they made pitches and got out of it."
Houston has lost three of four after starting the season 9-2.
Joey Gallo cut the lead to 5-4 with a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the eighth, and Guzman followed two batters later with a solo shot to right to tie it.
"To come back like that and have a guy like Guzman step up in huge situations, I think it speaks a lot about this team," Gallo said. "We are going to fight every day. Whatever the result may be, that's our attitude."
Brad Peacock gave up the three runs in the eighth.
"The one to Gallo was pretty good. I thought he just put the bat on it," Peacock said. "It just wasn't my day today."
Isiah Kiner-Falefa also hit his first big league home run, a drive to left to open the fifth. Adrian Beltre homered to right in the sixth to cut the lead to three. It was the 463rd of his career, tying him with Miguel Cabrera for 35th on the all-time list.
The Astros scored all five of their runs off Mike Minor in the fourth on Correa's two-run double and Gurriel's three-run homer to left. Minor worked five innings, allowing five hits.
Charlie Morton tied a career high with 12 strikeouts in his six innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The right-hander has 25 strikeouts in 18 innings over three starts.
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