Urquidy’s birthday gem produces series win

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The baseball bounced twice on Tropicana Field’s artificial turf and turned José Urquidy’s stomach. His 26th birthday contained more stress than most men his age experience. Urquidy put a baseball team on his back in a house of horrors against the defending American League champions. One awkward carom threatened to derail a celebration.

Carlos Correa charged the ground ball and corralled it. Between steps, the shortstop leapt into the air and fired a fabulous throw across the diamond. Randy Arozarena touched first base after it arrived. Urquidy paused for a moment. He hung his head in relief. Correa gave him an early birthday gift. The Astros handed their starter three more before he even threw a pitch.

Urquidy required nothing else. His 26th birthday began with brilliance. He matched his career high with seven scoreless innings, stymying the same Tampa Bay offense that exhausted him in last season’s American League Championship Series. Most of its names haven’t changed. Results have.

Urquidy pitched the Astros to a series win against the club that denied them a pennant. Houston had not defeated the Rays in a regular-season series since 2008. The team arrived in Tampa on Thursday night winners of only nine games inside Tropicana Field since the venue opened. Saturday’s 3-1 victory gave them two in a row and put the Astros three games above .500.

Urquidy controlled a cratering Rays lineup. He held them scoreless for seven innings. Brooks Raley and closer Ryan Pressly teamed to preserve the win. Pressly allowed the tying run to bat with no outs, but wiggled out of trouble.

Urquidy filled the strike zone and dared Tampa to tee off. It refused. Urquidy faced 26 Rays. Fifteen saw a first-pitch strike. He operated ahead in the count almost all game. His fastball had a little extra life, averaging 93 mph instead of his usual 91.8. His changeup confounded a lefthandedheavy Rays order. Tampa swung and missed 12 times while Urquidy worked. Half of them came against the changeup.

Urquidy only struck out four, but his arsenal rarely induced them. He thrives on a riding four-seam fastball that many opponents mis-hit. The 87.6 mph average exit velocity against him on Saturday signaled the control he had. Contact is his friend. Quick innings arrive due to it. He threw a

seven-pitch fourth and 10pitch fifth. None of the seven frames he worked featured more than 16 pitches.

Houston handed its starter a three-run lead before he toed the rubber. At full strength for the first time since early April, the lineup unloaded on Rays rookie Josh Fleming, a southpaw making only his 11th major league appearance.

Fleming limited opponents to three or fewer runs in nine of his first 10 career appearances. The Astros scored thrice on Saturday before the lefthander collected a second out. They ambushed him across

a 34-pitch first inning. Jose Altuve awoke on Saturday mired in a 1-for-17 slump. He sent Fleming’s first pitch of the game down the right field line for a double. The floodgates opened.

Altuve and Yuli Gurriel produced first-pitch hits. Gurriel’s scored Alex Bregman, who blooped an RBI single into no-man’s land for the game’s first run. Fleming nibbled on the edge of home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild’s strike zone. The Astros did not bite. Carlos Correa coaxed a four-pitch walk. Yordan Alvarez demonstrated delightful plate discipline during the six-pitch free

pass.

Any of the Astros’ excellence evaporated after the first. Fleming did not allow another hit in the next five frames. Houston struck only one against the two relievers that followed, leaving Urquidy with a miniscule margin for error. He relished the pressure.

The Rays totalled two baserunners through five innings. Consecutive sixthinning singles by Manuel Margot and Brandon Lowe presented Urquidy his only threat. Catcher Martin Maldonado came to visit. Correa, too. The three men huddled around the pitcher’s mound while Houston’s

menace home plate.

Arozarena willed an otherwise anemic lineup an American League pennant. The chance to reprise his role brought the socially distanced crowd to its feet. Urquidy advanced ahead in the count 1-2. He spun a putaway changeup. Arozarena chopped it to Correa, who charged in to give his gift.

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Steve Nesius / Associated Press The Astros' Yuli Gurriel follows through on a a two-run single during the first inning against the Rays on Saturday. Gurriel leads the team with 18 RBIs.