Win earns tie for first
Free passes serve to occupy bases, put hurlers in some jams
ARLINGTON — Starter Charlie Morton did not know where he was throwing the ball. He and the Astros escaped a wild Saturday evening with a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.
Morton faced 23 batters. He walked a career-high six of them, hit four and managed to strike out four.
An error by Jose Altuve and a sacrifice fly from Nomar Mazara were how the Rangers tied the game at 2, but Morton bore the most responsibility for throwing away an early two-run lead. He threw 47 balls and 40 strikes.
“He looked out of whack from the very beginning — delivery, timing, execution,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He was doing things he never does — hitting lefthanders with backfoot breaking balls, misfiring on a lot of fastballs, couldn’t get his split over. The entire game was a fight for him within himself. He somehow got out of a lot of these jams. You look up, it’s bases loaded in the first and gets out of it. Bases loaded in the second and gets out of it.”
Morton got through 32⁄3 innings yielding only one hit. He had not allowed it until the 18th batter, Ronald Guzman, doubled.
“I got away with not knowing where the ball was going,” Morton said. “That was a pretty unprofessional outing right there, bordering on embarrassing.”
Bullpen holds up
The Astros managed to writhe out of the straitjacket that entangled Morton. Tony Kemp shaded the sun with his glove to reel in two high-arching fly balls. Jake Marisnick ran down a deep line drive in the left-center gap. After Hinch watched Morton issue a sixth walk and had enough, reliever Brad Peacock ended a fourthinning jam with a strikeout. Their efforts stranded 10 runners.
An inning later, Max Stassi launched the longest home run of his career — a 466-foot blast to center — and Guzman tied the game at 3 with a single.
In the seventh, with a full count and two outs, Stassi took off from second and Kemp from first. George Springer pulled a line drive. Left fielder Joey Gallo raced in and reached down, but the ball snuck underneath his glove, letting the Astros retake the lead.
After a third consecutive rough inning, it was clear to the Astros that Morton unraveled too much to come back together on his own. In the dugout, pitching coach Brent Strom placed his hands on Morton’s shoulders for a face-to-face conversation about his delivery.
Morton was opening his front side too soon, causing him to yank inside pitches across his body and shank ones aimed for the outside. He said he had the same issue in his last outing, when he gave up six runs in a loss to Boston.
“The problem with adjusting in-game is you’re trying to compete and, at the same time, work on your mechanics,” Morton said. “The two often don’t gel.”
Morton nodded to Strom, briefly sat alone with his thoughts and then got up to fistbump Kemp.
The righthander needed all the help he could get. The bullpen bailed him out, but Astros relievers also relied on each other to keep runners stranded. Peacock, Tony Sipp and Chris Devenski combined to inherit five runners and allowed none to score.
Rondon serves as closer
The Astros issued 10 walks and recorded 10 strikeouts. The Rangers left 17 men on base. Guzman’s game-tying single was his team’s only hit in 17 chances with a runner in scoring position.
“Fifteen of them were free, right?” Hinch said. “We hit five and walked 10.”
Hector Rondon had closed out an Astros win Wednesday for his first save since July 24, 2016. Hinch signaled for Rondon again to protect the 4-3 lead, bypassing Ken Giles, who was rested, for a consecutive save opportunity.
Hinch said he chose Rondon because “I just wanted to get the outs and have the guys that have pitched a touch better in the game.”
Rondon allowed two baserunners to put the Astros in a hole they grew used to climbing out of Saturday. He then induced a game-ending double play. He turned to watch the infield seal the win, and pumped his fists emphatically. A second save was his, and the final mess cleaned up to move the Astros into a virtual first-place tie.
Springer expressed the most relief. As the hero of the game for driving in the go-ahead run, he raced through the clubhouse shirtless, with the team’s honorary Player of the Game robe wrapped around his neck and whipping behind him.
“I was just hot,” he said, with a chuckle. “It was hot out there today, so I took off my shirt as quick as I could.”
The Astros were eager to shed the weight of a sloppy game.
“We should go home feeling fortunate we were able to hold on to this one,” Hinch said.