Houston 4, Baltimore 1
When: 7:05 PM ET, Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
Temperature:
81°
Umpires:
Home -
Alfonso Marquez, 1B -
Dan Bellino, 2B -
Tom Hallion, 3B -
Bruce Dreckman
Attendance:
21541
By The Sports Xchange
BALTIMORE -- The Houston Astros have made a habit out of scoring runs late in games this season. They did it once more Tuesday night, and that helped them pull out a win over the Orioles.
Jason Castro gave Houston the lead for good with a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning, and Luis Valbeuna added a two-run single in the eighth as the Astros rallied late for a 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
The Astros now have scored 85 runs in the seventh inning or later -- tops in the major leagues. Oakland ranked second with 70 heading into Tuesday's games, but Houston manager A.J. Hinch certainly has noticed his team hits better later.
"We have good at-bats; we tend to have better at-bats as the game goes along," Hinch said. "I don't really know why. I don't have a reason -- but we do. We lock in a little bit towards the end, and as we get runners on base it shows up."
The Astros scored two in both the seventh and eighth to rebound after the Orioles (20-23) took a 1-0 lead in the sixth. Designated hitter Jimmy Paredes led off with a double, moved to third on center fielder Adam Jones' grounder to short and scored when first baseman Chris Davis hit a sacrifice fly to short right.
Houston then began its late-game rally with the two runs in the seventh. First baseman Chris Carter tied the game with a two-out single to left, scoring designated hitter Evan Gattis, who doubled to start the inning.
Castro, the catcher, then followed Carter with a double to deep right-center that drove in the first baseman for a 2-1 Houston lead. The Astros added two more in the eighth when third baseman Valbuena lined a two-run single to right.
Valbuena snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a fourth-inning double and finished the game 2-for-4 as the Astros are off to their best start ever after 47 games at 30-17.
"Everybody's focused because the game is close," Valbuena said. "It's like a family. Everybody goes and enjoys the game. That's what we do right now."
Astros starter Scott Feldman (4-4) gave up one run on four hits in six innings, wriggling out of trouble a few times against his former team.
Right-hander Luke Gregerson earned his 13th save with a scoreless ninth.
Baltimore right-hander Chris Tillman (2-6) took a hard-luck loss. He gave up two runs on six hits in seven innings, although Houston didn't have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position until the two-run seventh.
Tillman lost his fifth consecutive decision, tying a career high, after winning two of his first three.
"He got a change-up out over the plate and a breaking ball in a bad spot (in the seventh)," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "If we swing the bats a little better, those things aren't as much of an issue. Tilly was the reason we were in the ballgame by the way he pitched."
The Orioles' recent offensive struggles continued. They put runners on base in seven of the ninth innings and created some chances they could not cash in on.
They finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left five. The Orioles now have scored only eight runs in the last four games.
Paredes snapped out of a recent 0-for-6 skid with a 3-for-4 effort in this game, but the Orioles finished with just five hits overall.
"We've got to get offense," catcher Caleb Joseph said. "We knew one (run) probably wasn't going to be enough. We tried really hard to get a couple more but just couldn't push it across."
NOTES: The Orioles recalled C Steve Clevenger from Triple-A Norfolk and designated C Ryan Lavarnway for assignment. Clevenger will back up C Caleb Joseph, who will start until C Matt Wieters (elbow) returns from his rehab assignment, possibly on June 4. ... Wieters began his rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie on Tuesday. He hasn't played in the majors this season ... Astros manager A.J. Hinch expr
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Houston |
|
Baltimore |
Scott Feldman |
Player |
Chris Tillman
|
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
6.0 |
IP |
7.0 |
2 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
4 |
Hits |
5 |
1.50 |
ERA |
2.57 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Houston
|
8 |
0 |
12 |
.242 |
21 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
Baltimore
|
5 |
0 |
6 |
.172 |
15 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |