Astros Lose to Diamondbacks in Extra Innings to Tie Series at 1-1

The Houston Astros lost against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second game of the series Saturday night by a final score of 4-3, which now has the series tied at 1-1.

With this loss, the Astros now have a three-game advantage over the Texas for the top spot in the AL West with an overall record of 73-70.

Now looking at the game, the Astros got some solid performances from the mound which could be a good sign with the postseason just around the corner. 

To start the game, Houston went with right-handed pitcher Ethan Pecko, who pitched 4.1 innings. In those innings, Pecko allowed five hits, one run, walked one batter, struck out two batters, and posted an ERA of 5.19.

After Pecko, the Astros put in right-handed pitcher Enyel De Los Santos to pitch 1.2 innings. During that time, Santos allowed zero hits, zero runs, struck out two batters, and posted an ERA of 4.32.

Then, Houston went with another right-handed pitcher in Kei-Wei Teng, who pitched 0.1 innings and allowed one run, walked two batters, struck out one batter, and recorded an ERA of 4.76.

Houston then put in the fourth right-handed pitcher of the night, AJ Blubaugh, to pitch for 1.2 innings. In those innings, he allowed two hits and one home run (the only run he allowed), struck out two batters, and posted an ERA of 3.07.

In the ninth inning, Josh Hader came in for Houston and he allowed zero runs, zero hits, struck out one batter and recorded an ERA of 0.69.

With the game going to extra innings, right-handed pitcher Bryan King came in for the 10th inning and allowed one hit, one run, and posted an ERA of 4.67.

Overall, the Astros pitchers were solid and gave Houston an opportunity to win the game, which is definitely a good step in the right direction.

In terms of the scoring, the Astros and Diamondbacks had success from the plate, which saw both teams respond when needed, but ultimately the Diamondbacks came out on top with a final score of 4-3 in the 10th inning.

To kick off the scoring, in the third inning, Isaac Paredes singled to the right, which brought Yainer Diaz and Taylor Trammell home, got Yordan Alvarez to second, and put the Astros up 2-0.

In the fifth inning, Geraldo Perdomo hit a sacrifice fly to bring Tim Tawa home and trim the Astros' lead to 2-1. Later in the fifth inning, Paredes hit another single and reached to second base while Jeremy Pena scored and Alvarez got to third to extend Houston's lead to 3-1.

Then, in the seventh inning, Laars Nootbaar hit a double to the right, which allowed Tawa to score, got Ryan Waldschmidt to third, and cut the Astros' lead to 3-2. The Diamondbacks responded once again as in the eighth inning, Ketel Marte hit a home run to the right to tie Arizona and Houston at 3-3.

After no scoring in the ninth inning, the Diamondbacks took the lead 4-3 in the 10th inning as Gabriel Moreno singled to the right and Illdemaro Vargas scored.

When the Astros were up to bat in the 10th inning, they were not able to get anything going as Alvarez struck out, Paredes fouled out to first, and Altuve struck out, which gave the Diamondbacks the win and tied the series at 1-1 heading into Sunday.

In the end, this game really came down to Arizona being able to get hot from the plate down the stretch while Houston was unable to put runs on the board and heading into the series finale that is something that must change for the Astros.

Speaking of the series finale, it is going to be an interesting pitching matchup as right-handed pitcher Peter Lambert will start for the Astros while left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez will start for the Diamondbacks.

For the season, Lambert has an overall record of 8-7, and Rodriguez has an overall record of 14-5, so clearly both of these pitchers have plenty of experience and should make this series finale a very intriguing game to watch.

So, heading into Sunday, it will be interesting to see whether Lambert or Rodriguez can truly dominate from the mound and which team can put up runs and take advantage of key opportunities to pick up a key win, with the playoffs getting closer and closer and each game becoming increasingly important.