WALK-OFF . . . TOWEL OFF
Up by three with two outs to go for series win in Houston, Blue Jays unravel
CHILLED After racking up save No. 28 the night before, Jays closer Roberto Osuna was rocked for four runs in a 7-6 loss to the Astros, triggering a cool moment for unlikely walk-off hero Juan Centeno . . . and reporter Julia Morales.
HOUSTON— Half an hour after the Blue Jays’ 7-6 loss at Minute Maid Park, closer Roberto Osuna told reporters the Houston Astros are just like any other team. That mindset helps Osuna do his job, which is to retire batters regardless of their pedigree or record.
Sunday afternoon, Osuna took the mound with his team ahead by three runs and within reach of a win that would have clinched the season series with the first-place Astros, sending a message that a wild-card berth is still plausible. But no other team has Jose Altuve, who singled to start the ninth-inning rally that ended with a Juan Centeno walk-off single to seal a four-run outburst.
Osuna, who had earned his 28th save in Saturday night’s 4-3 win, isn’t blaming the quick turnaround for Sunday afternoon’s hiccup. Instead, he says he’s working through a rough stretch dating back to a pair of blown saves in late July.
“Against Anaheim and the White Sox, I couldn’t explain it. And today my command wasn’t what I wanted,” Osuna said. “My velocity is down, and I’ve got to find the right path for my velocity to come back again.”
It didn’t help that he was facing an Astros club that leads the majors in hits (1,117), runs (649) and OPS (.856).
While Houston has won four of seven games against the Jays this year, they have outscored Toronto 63-34 in those contests — including a 19-1 throttling in July and a 16-7 win to open this weekend’s series.
Sunday’s loss drops Toronto to 5259, and five games behind Tampa Bay in the race for the final wild-card spot.
But midway through the game, winning the season series against Houston didn’t seem too far-fetched an idea.
Jose Bautista’s two-run homer put the Jays ahead 2-0 in the third. After a-three-run Houston rally in the fifth, former Astro Nori Aoki launched a two-run homer to reclaim the lead for Toronto in the seventh. That blast was Aoki’s third of the season and first ever at Minute Maid Park, where he played 32 games with Houston this year.
Justin Smoak’s two-run double put the Jays up 6-3 midway through the seventh.
While starting pitcher Marcus Stroman gave up 11 hits over 62⁄ in
3 nings, limited the powerful Astros offence to that fifth-inning rally. He rebounded to strike out Altuve in a scoreless sixth, but left the game impressed with Houston’s depth and relentlessness.
“It’s an unbelievable lineup over there, one through nine,” said Stroman, whose 118 pitches marked his second-highest count of the season. “Altuve’s extremely special. They have some pretty big bats out (of the lineup), but those guys who stepped in and replaced those guys are unbelievable players as well. You have to really be on your game for a lineup like this.”
Houston won twice this weekend even though their lineup lacked two stars. Outfielder George Springer is out with a quadriceps injury, and shortstop Carlos Correa remains on the disabled list while rehabbing from thumb surgery.
But after going hitless Saturday, Altuve and Yulieski Gurriel rebounded Sunday to combine for five hits and three runs. After Alex Bregman’s ninth-inning triple tied the game, Centeno, called up to replace the injured Evan Gattis, singled to end the game.
“We liked our guy on the mound. He’s our closer (and) you don’t think they’re going to score three or four,” said manager John Gibbons. “But when things get rolling, they don’t let you up. It’s a deep lineup, right-handed (and) left-handed. They got caught up and then they got some big, big hits.”