Texas Rangers Fall To Astros After Straw Scores On 11th Inning Wild Pitch
HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — It took 11 innings and a score off a wild pitch to lift the Houston Astros over the Texas Rangers in a 4-3 win on Thursday night.
After the Rangers loaded the bases with an intentional walk to Alex Bregman that brought up Chas McCormick, reliever Brett Martin (0-1) uncorked a 1-2 pitch that bounced away, and Myles Straw raced home from third.
"I was ready, especially with two strikes there," Straw said. "I had a feeling they would bounce a breaking ball, so I stayed ready and sure enough, I saw it kind of get away a little bit. I was going to be overaggressive there with two strikes. Even if it was a little bit closer than that, I was probably going to go."
Straw said he played against Martin in the minor leagues and had seen him throw his breaking ball in the dirt.
"He's bounced it to me before," Straw said. "It's one of his really good pitches, so I was ready for that pitch. Sure enough, he threw a good one, and it just got away."
Texas manager Chris Woodward said he knew with Straw's speed, any ball in the dirt or any ball that got away would allow him to score.
Brooks Raley (1-2) stranded runners at the corners in the top of the inning to earn the win.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know how we came out with that one," Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "The gods were with us even at the end with the wild pitch. We left a lot of men on base. We had a lot of opportunities. We had a whole lot more opportunities than they did. It would have been a downer to lose that game."
José Altuve gave the Astros a 3-2 lead in the second with a three-run double down the left-field line.
Willie Calhoun went deep on the first pitch from Houston starter Cristian Javier for his first career leadoff homer.
Texas upped the lead to 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Jose Trevino in the second.
Joey Gallo tied it at 3 with an RBI groundout in the third.
Houston finished 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position, while the Rangers went 0 for 11.
"We fought," Woodward said. "That's one thing we did. We left a ton of guys on base. … We just couldn't get the big hit."
Javier allowed three runs and four hits with six strikeouts in seven innings. The right-hander retired 13 straight during one stretch.
Rangers starter Mike Foltynewicz permitted three runs and eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)