Eight is not enough
Texas scores five times over final three innings to erase a four-run deficit
ARLINGTON — In a season on pace for the most home runs in baseball history, Texas’ two teams did their parts. A Friday fusillade of 19 hits included nine homers, and seven of them were go-ahead or game-tying blasts.
The Rangers erased the Astros’ comeback efforts by mounting the biggest one of the night. Their five unanswered runs in the final three innings left the Astros’ bullpen in ruins.
With two runners on base, Astros closer Roberto Osuna gave up a line drive to Danny Santana. In center field, George Springer dove desperately and missed the ball narrowly.
Springer picked up his head to watch Elvis Andrus race home and seal the Rangers’ 9-8 walkoff win.
Through seven innings, only the Astros had go-ahead hits. Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez put the Astros ahead with home runs.
Tyler White’s two-RBI single capped off a big sixth inning, and Alvarez, who went 3-for-3 with two RBIs,
Through seven innings, only the Astros had go-ahead hits. Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez put Houston back in the lead with home runs.
Tyler White’s two-run single capped off a three-run sixth inning, and Alvarez, who went 3for-3 with two RBIs, went deep for a second time an inning later.
By the bottom of the seventh, Cole had burned off the last of his fuel and the bullpen inherited an 8-4 lead.
“In this ballpark, I’ve learned never to think other than, ‘Play the complete game,’ ” Hinch said.
Will Harris went ahead 0-2 in the count but fell behind 3-2 to Rangers catcher Tim Federowicz, who played 10 games for the Astros last season. Harris threw six pitches around or on the edges of the zone.
“I got into a bind where I wasn’t going to walk him,” Harris said. “I didn’t do my job.”
Federowicz belted Harris’ seventh pitch for a homer.
Harris put two more runners on base, who Ryan Pressly could have stranded were it not for catcher Robinson Chirinos’s throwing error. The throw on a stolen base attempt sailed into the outfield, which let another run score.
Reliever No. 3 Hector Rondon could not protect the remaining two-run lead in the eighth. After a leadoff walk, he gave up a tworun homer to Ronald Guzman.
Guzman pounced on the first pitch: a low-and-inside slider off the plate.
“Guzman was looking for that pitch,” Rondon said. “I faced him a couple times, always coming in to him. That was a good pitch. He got it.”
The Rangers dealt the Astros only their second loss in 49 games in which they led after seven innings.
The defeat overshadowed the Astros’ offensive feats. In between Alvarez’s two homers, White sawed off a high-and-inside fastball for a single to right that scored Gurriel and Josh Reddick in the sixth.
Gurriel is hitting .337 (33for-98) with 11 homers and 24 RBIs over his last 24 games. Alvarez, who went 3-for-3, boasts a .363 batting average, .788 slugging percentage and nine home runs in the first 90 plate appearances of his career.
Giving up three home runs was not how the Astros expected Cole to start the second half of the season.
A leadoff home run by Shin-Soo Choo on an 0-2 pitch did not ruffle Cole much. It almost was expected, considering Cole’s 4.95 ERA in first innings this season.
The Rangers’ second home run, off the bat of Santana, inspired Cole to cuss at his mistake. Cole tracked the ball until it landed deep in the left-field stands, when Santana was well into a trot around first base.
The third home run, one of slugger Joey Gallo’s typical fly balls that kept soaring until there was no room left to catch it, made Cole miffed. He twisted and turned, unable to shake off the agony of letting the Rangers tie the score again. Cole did not turn back to his catcher until Gallo neared second base. Cole snapped at a new baseball with his mitt.
In the fifth inning, Altuve’s 11th home run of the season provided the Astros with a 4-3 lead, but Cole lost the advantage for a third time. He walked two batters and served up a fastball down the middle, which Andrus drove for a run-scoring single.
Cole reached back for extra velocity to ensure he did not allow another run. His last pitch of the game buzzed past Guzman at 100 mph. Three of Cole’s final four outs were strikeouts. He finished with 13 strikeouts — his 10th double-digit performance this season — and gave up four runs in six innings.
The nine homers were the most at the ballpark in Arlington since Aug. 13, 2010.