A wild pitch makes it for Astros! Houston tops Rangers 4-3 in extras

In the 10th inning, everything counts. On Wednesday night, after a good team effort to come back, the Astros reached another victory, though this time they were helped by the rival pitcher as Jonathan Hernández threw a wild pitch to let the final run to score. After the first three innings, the Astros were down 3-0.

The game did not offer a good beginning for Houston. Nathaniel Lowe homered off starter Cristian Javier in the first inning. Later, in the third, the Rangers used two RBI singles from Marcus Semien and Kole Calhoun to make it 3-0.

But fortunately, Javier was better eventually. The righty did not surrender a hit since the fourth inning until completing 5 1/3 innings of four hits, three runs (one earned), two walks, and eight strikeouts.

Offensively, the Astros reacted in the fourth with a Yuli Gurriel RBI single to shrink the gap 3-1.

Two innings later, in the sixth, Kyle Tucker clubbed his second homer of the month and 24th overall. The two-run blast tied the score at three and gave us a bullpen duel won by Houston.

Seth Martínez, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero, and Héctor Neris all did a wonderful job to keep the chances intact until the Astros took advantage of the ghost runner in the 10th innings. With Hernández on the mound and after issuing two intentional walks, he threw a wild pitch after the first offering to Alex Bregman. That was it, game over (4-3).

The Astros have won seven of the last nine games and will try to follow that on Friday, when they’ll begin a three-game series against the Angels. Lance McCullers will face Anaheim in the series opener.

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