Josh Smith hit a two-run, walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Texas Rangers a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night at Arlington, Texas.
Smith ripped a 3-1 fastball from Caleb Ferguson (1-4) well into the stands in right-center to give the Rangers just their third victory in the past 10 games.
Corey Seager also homered for the Rangers, who outhit the Astros 5-4. Smith’s blast was his 12th of the season and also scored automatic runner Adolis Garcia.
Alex Bregman homered and Jeremy Pena had two hits and two RBIs for Houston, which lost for the sixth time in eight games.
The Astros took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th without the benefit of a hit.
Runners were on first and second with one out when Kirby Yates (4-1) hit consecutive batters — Yainer Diaz and Pena — with pitches to force in a run.
Seager came up with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and ripped a solo shot, his 23rd homer of the season, to knot the score at 2. Seager jumped all over a full-count fastball from Ryan Pressly and deposited it over the wall in right-center for his fourth homer in the past four games.
The game was tied at 1 when Houston loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth with a single and two walks, one intentional, against David Robertson.
Pena then hit a bouncer to third for a base hit, and Jose Altuve easily beat the throw home by Josh Jung.
Bregman smacked a two-out homer in the third to give Houston an early 1-0 lead. It was his 15th long ball of the season.
That was the lone hit and only run allowed by Texas starter Andrew Heaney, who retired 10 straight Astros after the homer before exiting the game. He struck out four and walked one in six innings.
Houston’s Hunter Brown gave up one run and three hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked two.
The Rangers scored their lone run off Brown in the fifth inning.
Nathaniel Lowe walked and advanced to third on a single by Garcia. Leody Taveras followed with a sacrifice fly to left, as Lowe scored easily when the throw home by Houston’s Chas McCormick went wide of the plate.
–Field Level Media
