Lack of timely hitting proves costly in extra-inning defeat
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Having deployed his top four available relievers Tuesday, Astros manager Joe Espada turned to what depth he had. Right-hander Wander Suero, newly called up from Triple-a, emerged from the bullpen for the bottom of the 10th inning in a tied game. The 32-year-old inherited the runner placed on second base and a matchup with the Royals’ cleanup hitter.
“We didn’t have a ton of guys left,” Espada acknowledged.
Rafael Montero, Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader had pitched. Seth Martinez, Tayler Scott and Brandon Bielak had all thrown multiple innings the day before. Parker Mushinski, also called up Tuesday, is left-handed. Salvador Perez, the Royals’ veteran right-handed catcher, loomed to lead off the 10th. So Suero it was. Perez drove his second pitch into the gap in leftcenter field for a walk-off Royals win.
That a 4-3 loss for the Astros reached that point was avoidable. Their offense outhit the Royals 14-7 but left a series of scoring chances unfulfilled. Houston’s lineup finished a combined 5-for-18 with runners in scoring position after entering the day hitting .241 in those situations. It left 13 men on base, leading to a three-run output on a night when every starter had at least one hit.
Yordan Alvarez collected four. Jose Altuve, Alvarez and Kyle Tucker combined to reach base eight times and score one run. Alvarez drove in two of Houston’s runs and is 14for-25 over his past six games. Three of his hits came against left-handed Royals starter Cole Ragans. The Astros totaled 10 hits against Ragans, the most the left-hander has allowed in a game in his career, with a loss to show for it.
“We have some guys that are locked in,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “I feel like Yordan can’t miss right now. But it’s just a matter of putting together timely hitting. I feel like we’re doing a great job of getting runners on. But it says a lot about our team. We put together good atbats. Everyone goes out there and competes. Everyone’s got a great plan going up to home plate. So in the long run, I think we’ll be OK.”
Peña struck two hits and is batting .333 through 12 games. One of them nearly gave the Astros an edge in the 10th. Peña was third to bat in the inning after Royals reliever James Mcarthur retired Chas Mccormick on a lineout and struck out Victor Caratini. Caratini was sent up to pinch-hit for José Abreu, who was 1-for-4 with an infield hit Tuesday and is now 3-for-34 with no extra-base hits on the season.
“I thought there were some right-handed pitchers from their bullpen that I like having some lefthanded bats available for,” Espada said of pinch-hitting for Abreu in a situation with the go-ahead run on second base. “And that was one of those matchups right there.”
Peña pulled a ground ball that left his bat at just 79.2 mph but appeared headed for left field. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. ranged to his right and stopped it on a dive. Witt’s throw had no chance to get Peña, but keeping the ball on the infield held Yainer Diaz at third base. Mcarthur struck out Jake Meyers to strand Diaz there.
“I didn’t quite square it up, kind of hit it with the inside part of the bat,” Peña said. “But I thought it did have a chance of going through. Shout-out to Bobby Witt. Made a nice play.”
It preserved a tie into the bottom of the 10th. Hader, the Astros’ closer, had used only 11 pitches in the bottom of the ninth. But Suero began to warm as soon as that inning ended. Espada said there was no consideration to bringing Hader back for the 10th.
“No, that was good enough there for Hader,” Espada said. “He’s done a great job. He threw a clean ninth. We’ve got to make sure that we’re smart about … the length of our season.”