Astros waste a quality Verlander start
It was a lot to ask. The Astros, notorious extra inning game losers, were not about to win two of them in a row.
Tonight, they found another bizarre way to lose, flying into a 7-4 double play to end the game.
The Astros and Guardians starting pitchers, Justin Verlander and Triston Mackenzie, started the game engaged in a scoreless pitching duel for four innings.
It was Verlander who blinked first, allowing a Will Brennan solo homer in the fifth. And then, with two outs, Steven Kwan hit an RBI triple.
The Astros crawled back into contention with a run in the sixth on a rare Jose Altuve RBI single, scoring Mauricio Dubon. In the seventh Kyle Tucker tied the score with a homer to right field.
Verlander lasted through seven innings, allowing the two runs on six hits, three walks, and two Ks.
Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly held down the fort against the Guardians until the game went into extra innings.
All hope appeared lost in the tenth after Shawn Dubin loaded the bases with no outs after having already allowed a go-ahead run. But he struck out slugger Jose Ramirez and got Josh Naylor to ground into a double play, leaving the Astros down only one in the bottom of the tenth inning, starting with an extra runner
However, the one run held for the Guardians, with the Astros reverting to late-inning choke mode, in part thanks to last night’s heroes. Joey Loperfido struck out to lead off the inning, followed by a Mauricio Dubon flyout that looked like a single off the bat. The extra runner, Victor Caratini, who walked it off last night, took off on contact and was doubled out at second, ending the game.
How can the Astros lose?
We’ve lost count of the ways.