Fill-in starter Brandon Walter superb yet again.
For the second night in a row, the Astros won a walk-off against the Minnesota Twins. This time, the unlikely hero was weak-hitting Mauricio Dubon, who doubled home ghost runner Jake Meyers with two outs.
But how do the Astros keep winning so many low-scoring games, this time getting only four hits? Especially, considering the injuries to the starting staff? Does the Astros system grow pitchers on trees?
Apparently, yes.
Today, Brandon Walter, a Red Sox castoff, allowed only one run in 6.2 innings pitched. He surrendered six hits, no walks, and struck out nine. Since his recall from AAA, Walter has been magnificent in the Astros’ starting rotation. After today’s performance, his ERA sits at 1.53.
Despite another superlative performance, Walter was not the winning pitcher today. The Astros were shut out by Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson (and relief staff) until the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, for the second night in a row, the Stros got to Twins closer Jhoan Duran, this time to tie the score. Duran walked the first hitter, Jeremy Pena, who stole second and moved to third with one out on a Jose Altuve infield hit. Pena scored on a Victor Caratini sacrifice fly to send the game into extra innings.
The AL’s best closer, the Astros’ Josh Hader, got two popups and a K to hold the Twins scoreless in the tenth inning. He ended up the winning pitcher for the second night in a row.
In the Astros’ tenth, the first two batters went down meekly, but Mauricio Dubon, who was 0-15 in his most recent at bats, hit a single off the left-center-field wall, scoring the ghost runner and giving the Astros their fifth straight win putting them eleven games over .500 for the first time this year.