Astros walk off with win over Diamondbacks in 10th inning.
McCormick hit by pitch to bring in winning run
Baseball’s worst team came to town with the Astros’ starting rotation in disarray. A righthanded reliever started against a Diamondbacks lineup with six lefthanded batters. Given the circumstances, Brandon Bielak’s departure two outs into the third inning was not wholly unexpected.
The Astros had saved lefthanded relievers Blake Taylor and Brooks Raley for this occasion. Once they were spent, Cristian Javier surrendered a solo home run that broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning.
What the Astros had not counted on was that Arizona starter Madison Bumgarner would no-hit the Astros through five innings, that Jose Altuve’s two-run homer in the sixth inning (the only hit Bumgarner allowed) would not be enough to sustain a lead, or that the bull
pen would be tasked with carrying them into extra innings against another sub-.500 team.
And to cap the strange night, a walkoff hit by pitch allowed the Astros to scrape out a 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks in a 10inning bullpen game Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
After Jake Meyers tied the game for the Astros with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th, pinch hitter Aledmys Díaz walked to load the bases. Chas McCormick, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the ninth, fouled off two pitches before being hit by a third to bring in the winning run.
Houston’s relief corps has been among MLB’s best in September with a 2.96 ERA, three wins and three saves in the month’s first 14 games. It pitched around significant traffic Friday, but that was overshadowed late by a bonkers ending and through the first half by Bumgarner’s terrific outing.
Not counting Altuve’s blast, Astros put just two runners on in seven innings against Bumgarner, who threw 82 pitches with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts and saw one batter reach on an error. As he has so often, Altuve tried to rescue the Astros with one swing, sending a two-run moon shot into the Crawford Boxes to spoil Bumgarner’s no-hitter and give Houston a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.
Kendall Graveman gave up the tying run to the Diamondbacks in the eighth inning before Ryne Stanek allowed another run to score in the 10th. Then the absurdity commenced as the Astros loaded the bases and McCormick’s moment arrived.
Bielak made his first start since Sept. 5, 2020. The secondyear pitcher has been one of Houston’s long men in the bullpen this season and hurled three innings in back-to-back relief appearances earlier this month. He did not get that far Friday.
Bielak gave up three hits, two walks and one wild pitch but struck out a career-high six batters in 22⁄3 scoreless innings. Taylor and Raley got the Astros into the fifth before Cristian Javier surrendered a solo homer to Kole Calhoun.
Bielak struck out two batters and left the bases loaded in the opening frame, though his pitch count suffered in the 30-pitch inning. Bielak gave up a leadoff single, a stolen base and two walks to fill the bases with two outs. He got Carson Kelly to pop out and end the threat.
After Bielak retired the side in order on 13 pitches with two strikeouts in the second inning, the top of Arizona’s order brought trouble in the third. Josh Rojas and Daulton Varsho hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Bielak struck out the next batter, but Varsho advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Taylor began warming up.
Bielak struck out Christian Walker on his 55th pitch of the evening. Pitching coach Brent Strom came out and sent for Taylor.
Taylor inherited runners on second and third. He required just one pitch against a lefty hitter to procure the inning’s final out and gift Bielak a scoreless outing.
Meanwhile, Bumgarner retired every Astro he faced his first time through the order. Altuve finally got the Astros a base runner in the fourth inning when he reached on an error, but Alex Bregman then hit into a double play and Yuli Gurriel flied out.
Taylor took the Astros through the fourth and left after 26 pitches, allowing one hit with two strikeouts in 11⁄3 scoreless innings.
Raley took over for the fifth inning to face the top of the Diamondbacks order. Rojas dropped a single into shallow center field between three Astros, then advanced to second base on a passed ball by catcher Jason Castro. Raley fielded a comebacker from Varsho for the first out, but David Peralta’s groundout advanced Rojas to third base and hastened Raley off the mound after only 14 pitches.
Javier entered and struck out Walker to end the frame, but in the sixth Kole Calhoun hammered a 2-1 pitch from Javier into the right field stands to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jose Siri drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a Castro groundout. Altuve then sent his shot into the thundering crowd to make it 2-1 Astros. Siri paused at third base to watch its arc, raised both arms in triumph, and continued his trot home.
After Phil Maton retired the Diamondbacks in order on eight pitches in the seventh inning, aided by a successful challenge from Astros manager Dusty Baker, Graveman took over in the eighth. He allowed the first two batters to reach on a first-pitch single and a walk before he came to a 2-2 count against Kelly.
Graveman removed his cap and consulted his notes. He delivered a ball, then a strike that was fouled back. The seventh pitch produced a hopper that Carlos Correa fielded and turned into a double play. One runner remained at third base.
Graveman went to a full count before a slumping Josh VanMeter tied the game with a single. But Castro caught VanMeter stealing second to prevent the go-ahead run from reaching scoring position.
Siri’s two-out single in the eighth inning was negated when he was thrown out trying to steal second. Astros closer Ryan Pressly retired the side in order in the top of the ninth, leaving his counterpart Noe Ramirez up next.
Castro lined a leadoff double down the right field line in the bottom of the ninth, and McCormick came in to pinch run as Altuve stepped into the batter’s box. The second baseman drew a five-pitch walk to put two on with no outs. But the Astros got nothing for it as Bregman, Gurriel and Kyle Tucker went down in order.