It was Christian Walker’s homecoming, but Brice Matthews’ breakout game.
For the first time since signing with the Astros this offseason, Christian Walker entered Chase Field to hugs and a very warm reception prior to his first at-bat. Very classy, Arizona.
But, any attention to and expectation of what Walker might do in his return game was quickly subverted when Astros rookie SS/2B Brice Matthews decided that tonight was his night to have the best game of his very young career! Entering tonight, Brice was only 1-12 with 2R, 1BB, 0 RBI’s and a .083 AVG. In tonight’s game, Brice went ballistic, going 2-4 with 5-RBI’s(!), including 2 Homers and 8 TB. With his offensive explosion leading the way, the Astros defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks by a final score of 6-3.
The scoring began in the bottom of the 1st, when Colton Gordon allowed the Diamondbacks to jump out to a 1-0 lead after 4 pitches to Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll.(Lead-off Double, single respectively) The Astros then responded in the top of the 2nd, as Brice Matthews hit the 1st of two homers on the night. He launched this one 397 ft., scoring Taylor Trammell and Mauricio Dubon to make it 3-1 Astros:
SOMEONE GET THAT BASEBALL!
First career HR for Brice Matthews! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/89sYVYYHCX
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 22, 2025
Christian Walker then finally joined his homecoming party in the top of the 3rd with an RBI-double to the centerfield wall, scoring Victor Caratini and making it 4-1:
Christian Walker just missed a homer, instead settling for an RBI double which hit way up the batter’s eye in CF. This thing went 427 feet and would have been a HR in 28 of 30 parks. pic.twitter.com/WxQ55ZTWSc
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 22, 2025
The Diamondbacks then responded with two scoring plays of their own: Eugenio Suarez blasting an NL leading 36th homerun to left field in the bottom of the 3rd, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. scoring Corbin Caroll on a SAC-Fly in the bottom of the 5th, making it 4-3 Astros.
The game almost got out of hand in the bottom of the 6th, as the Astros faced a bases loaded situation after Colton Gordon allowed James McCann and Blaze Alexander to reach base with 2 outs, while Bennett Sousa walked Geraldo Perdomo. Thankfully, Sousa got Marte to fly out to Trammell in left field to narrowly avoid disaster and get out of the inning.
Brice Matthews then put the game out of reach in the top of the 7th with his second homer of the night, annihilating this one 423 ft. to left field, scoring Chas McCormick after his lead-off bunt to reach 1st base:
BRICE MATTHEWS HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!
THE KID IS LEGIT
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) July 22, 2025
This put the Astros up 6-3, setting them up to send Josh Hader out later on in the bottom of the 9th with a chance to get his 26th save in 27 attempts.
And save he did, getting Josh Naylor to fly out as the potential tying run, right after walking Gurriel and Suarez previously to put two on base. Ball game.
(As a bonus, shoutout to Colton Gordon, the unsung hero of the game. Even though he didn’t make it through 6IP, he went 5.2 IP, 89 pitches, 7 H, 2BB, but only 3 runs given up(2 earned).
The Astros now improve to 58-42 on the season and have expanded their AL West lead to 5.0 games due to the Brewers taking care of business against the Mariners tonight.
Check out the box score below to see how the rest of the team contributed.