Astros come up with late-inning heroics this time, deny O’s
The Houston Astros were in desperate need of a win Wednesday after dropping four of five and letting their lead in the AL West dwindle.
Held scoreless through seven innings, things looked bleak before some late-game heroics lifted them to the victory.
Mauricio Dubon’s RBI single with one out in the ninth gave the Astros to a 2-1 win at home over the Baltimore Orioles, allowing Houston to avoid a sweep and stay a half-game ahead of Texas for first place in the AL West.
“That was a big win,” manager Dusty Baker said. “It was nice to see the guys happy and partying because it’s been a morgue in there for the past two days. That was a huge game.”
Yainer Diaz doubled to right field off Danny Coulombe (5-2) to start Houston’s ninth, and he moved to third on a groundout by Chas McCormick.
Dubon smacked a single into the gap in right field to score Diaz and start the celebration.
The Astros had just two hits when Jeremy Peña’s RBI double tied it with one out in the eighth.
Closer Ryan Pressly (4-5) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Anthony Santander doubled and drove in Baltimore’s only run with a single in the first inning as the team’s lead over the Rays in the AL East fell to two games.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish allowed two hits and struck out nine in six scoreless innings.
Nationals 13, White Sox 3: Lane Thomas hit a grand slam and Washington routed Chicago at home.
Joey Meneses and Dominic Smith also homered for the Nationals, who won back-toback games for the first time since taking three in a row from Aug. 24-26.
Gavin Sheets drove in two runs for Chicago, which has dropped nine of 12 and 14 of 19. The White Sox (58-95) are 37 games under .500 for the first time since finishing 62-100 in 2018.
Thomas broke the game open after Jesse Scholtens allowed Luis García’s single, hit Jake Alu and walked CJ Abrams to load the bases in the third inning. After taking the first pitch, Thomas hammered a curveball to left for his 26th home run and second career grand slam to put Washington up 8-1.
Josiah Gray (8-12) earned his first victory since July 22. The right-hander gave up a run on five hits in five innings and struck out four.
Late Tuesday
Orioles 9, Astros 5: Austin Hays hit two homers and had four RBIs for Baltimore in a victory over slumping Houston, cutting the Astros’ AL West lead to a halfgame over Texas.
Hays hit a three-run shot off Astros starter Hunter Brown (11-12) into the left-field Crawford Boxes to put Baltimore up 5-2 in the third inning. He followed with a solo shot to deep left-center field in the seventh, putting Baltimore up 8-5.
A two-run sixth inning extended Baltimore’s lead to 7-3 after James McCann scored Cedric Mullins on a bunt single and Gunnar Henderson singled to score Adam Frazier.
Heston Kjerstad also homered for Baltimore in the seventh.
Nationals 4, White Sox 3: Joey Meneses hit a pinch-hit threerun home run in the seventh inning, and Washington defeated Chicago.
Jackson Rutledge, a former first-round selection, allowed two runs in 6 ⅓ innings in his first home start for Washington.