Grady Sizemore drew a walk with one out to load the bases before Evan Longoria grounded into a forceout that scored Kiermaier to put the Rays on top 2-1.
Advertisement
The bullpen was charged with protecting the slimmest of leads and could not finish the job.
Something about Minute Maid Park brings out the best in Dallas Keuchel, making a Houston Astros victory with him toeing the rubber at home as close to a sure thing as there is in baseball.
Until the Marisnick triple, the Tigers bullpen had held the Astros in check for 3⅔ innings after rookie starter Matt Boyd had allowed five runs, four in the second.
“It’s always a challenge when you don’t do it a lot”, Boxberger said, “but I don’t think that had anything to do with it”. “I missed the location on it, and he didn’t miss the pitch”. That meant when Jose Altuve and Gonzalez singled and Carlos Correa doubled Tuesday, the last seven batters he had faced had six hits and the sac fly. Altuve and Gonzalez each singled to start off the inning before Correa knocked a double to the left field corner to score Altuve and make it 2-2.
Boxberger said he didn’t want to walk the leadoff batter. By the end of the contest, he had both his high fastball and splitter down working to perfection as he rebounded well from his rough performance against the Braves.
“I like to pitch anywhere, but I don’t know”, he said when asked about his home dominance.
Houston’s Scott Kazmir got the first two outs of the inning relatively easily before giving up five straight base-runners, capped by Tim Beckham’s sixth homer of the year, a three-run shot onto the train tracks in left field to give the Rays a 4-0 lead. They really shouldn’t be any different from high-leverage spots in the seventh or eighth innings, but when pitching successfully earns you a save, which increases your earnings in arbitration by a huge amount, it is human nature to value it more.
Houston got on the board first in the bottom of the third. McGee got the first two outs, but walked Jason Castro. It was a 33-pitch outing for McGee and will keep him out of action for a few games. Hinch said they’re slowly increasing his activity to see how he tolerates the added work. “This team did not”. Manager A.J. Hinch said he’s still some time away from swinging a real bat or actually hitting. “It’s part of it. Everyone goes through it. It’s just a matter of how quick we can turn it around”. It was the 16th time in 20 starts this season that Odorizzi has pitched at least six innings.
302 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs on the season.
As usual, we can really blame this loss on the Rays’ offense.
It was the fifth time this season the Rays scored no more than one run while Odorizzi was in the game.
Advertisement
Casali’s towering homer tied it at 1-all with one out in the fifth.
