D-Backs walk off Astros 3-2 in 10 innings

On a game that went wrong in many aspects for the Astros on Wednesday afternoon, they lost it 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. A sac fly by Ketel Marté walked them off the field in the bottom of the 10th inning to split the two-game series in the desert.

Framber Valdez struggled all day with control and had his shortest start since July 11, 2019. The left-hander gave up five walks, plunked Marté, and threw only 40 of his 75 pitches for strikes across three innings of two hits, one earned run, and three strikeouts.

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The Astros figured it out to keep things close despite the pitching disaster, but they couldn’t hit. Houston left nine runners on base and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, the key reason why Dusty Baker’s guys failed to take advantage of the 17 runners the Diamondbacks left aboard or their own 1 for 13 breakdown with runners in scoring position.

One early run in the second inning put the D-Backs ahead in the score until the seventh when Houston scored on a sac fly by Martín Maldonado. Then, in the 10th inning, the Astros scored for the second time via Alex Bregman’s sacrifice fly.

But the bottom of the 10th didn’t bring good things for the ‘Stros. Former Astro Seth Beer hit an RBI single off closer Ryan Pressly and Marté recorded another sacrifice fly to end the game and give the Astros their second loss of the young campaign (4-2). (Again, Pressly’s velocity topped out at 93 MPH.)

On the bright side, center field was again a position of strength, with Chas McCormick answering Jose Siri’s big night last night with a 3- 4 performance of his own.

The Astros have Thursday off before they begin a three-game series against the Mariners, their last series before their home opener at Minute Maid Park next Monday. Jake Odorizzi will take the ball for Houston.

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