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Forget Crush City, the Astros have been Cardiac City on this homestand. For the third time in four games they won on a walk-off hit. This time Carlos Correa did the honors, singling to right field to drive in Jose Altuve with the winning run.
Dallas Keuchel pitched another strong game at home, allowing only two runs on seven hits over seven plus innings. The two runs came in after a controversial play in the seventh, where there was possible fan interference on a pop up along the right field stands. Luis Valbuena couldn't come up with the catch, and Logan Forsythe then singled to left. Tim Beckham drove him in with a triple, and came home on a sacrifice fly.
The only Astros run through the first eight innings came on a solo home run with two outs in the first inning by Carlos Correa. Up until the ninth inning, Rays starter Nate Karns and the bullpen stymied the Astros offense.
Down to their last at bat in the ninth inning, Jed Lowrie led off with a bloop double to left field. He moved to third on a wild pitch by Rays closer Brad Boxberger. Preston Tucker struck out, which brought Evan Gattis to the plate. Gattis singled through the drawn in Rays infield to tie the score. Unfortunately, Luis Valbuena grounded into a double play to end the threat and send the game to extra innings.
In extras, the bullpens took over. The Rays only had one base runner in the 10th through 13th, and the Astros only hit was immediately erased when Luis Valbuena tried to stretch a single into a double. All told, the pitching staffs combined for 33 strikeouts in the 13 inning contest.
The Astros finally rallied in the bottom of the 13th. Colby Rasmus walked, and moved to third on a perfectly executed hit and run by Jose Altuve. Marwin Gonzalez had the chance to be the hero once again, but he struck out. That left it up to Correa, who smashed an opposite field single into right.
Another wild win for the Astros, who have now won four out of six games on this homestand. None of them have been easy, but the Astros are grinding out the wins.