Nathaniel Lowe lined a two-out, two-strike single to left field in the top of the 10th inning to lift the visiting Texas Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday.
Lowe drove home Josh Smith from third base with just the fourth hit of the game for the Rangers. All-Star closer Kirby Yates notched his 15th save with a five-pitch bottom of the 10th as Texas overcame hitting 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position to snap the Astros’ 10-game home win streak.
Tayler Scott (6-3) took the loss for Houston. David Robertson (3-3) worked two scoreless innings of relief for the Rangers.
Texas right-hander Nathan Eovaldi surrendered a one-run lead in the bottom of the first but limited the damage by escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam to set the tone for the remainder of his outing.
Eovaldi allowed four consecutive one-out singles, including Yainer Diaz’s hit that drove in Alex Bregman. But Eovaldi rallied with a strikeout of Jeremy Pena, who was initially awarded first base on interference by Rangers catcher Jonah Heim. Replay review reversed the call and sent Yordan Alvarez back to third.
The Astros left the bases loaded when Jake Meyers hit a line drive that Smith snared at third. Eovaldi followed by retiring 13 of the next 14 batters he faced before the Astros fashioned another one-out rally, this time in the sixth inning.
Diaz and Jon Singleton slapped singles to left before Eovaldi plunked Pena with a pitch. The game remained tied after Meyers grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Eovaldi allowed one run on eight hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.
The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead on the first pitch of the game when Marcus Semien drilled his 13th home run 400 feet to left-center off Astros rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti.
Arrighetti stranded baserunners in the first and fourth innings. He escaped a serious threat in the sixth when another replay review overturned a safe call at first after Lowe appeared to beat Arrighetti to the bag on a grounder to the right side of the infield.
Two runners scored on the play, but the reversal ended the inning with the game tied at 1-1.
In the seventh inning, Smith struck out with the bases loaded and two outs against Astros reliever Bryan King. Leody Taveras took a called third strike against Astros reliever Shawn Dubin to leave the bases loaded in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
