Houston just coughed up a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning, losing 4-3 to the Diamondbacks in 10 innings on Saturday night at Daikin Park. Isaac Paredes drove in all three of Houston’s runs, but the ‘Stros couldn’t cash in during the late going, letting a golden chance to pad their division lead slip right through their fingers. This wasn’t just any loss either. This was only the fourth time in 58 games this season Houston has lost when leading after six innings. Ouch.
The Late-Game Collapse That Rocked the Division Race
Things looked pretty solid with Houston carrying a 3-1 lead into the seventh. But then Lars Nootbaar slapped an RBI double, cutting the lead in half. Next up, Ketel Marte absolutely crushed his 22nd home run in the eighth, wiping out the lead completely. Seriously, that’s rough. Jose Altuve even smacked a one-out double in the bottom of the eighth, but he ended up stranded, a huge missed opportunity to reclaim momentum. The Diamondbacks’ Gabriel Moreno then delivered the crushing blow, a go-ahead single in the 10th inning, sending Houston home with nothing to show for Paredes’s big night.
Bullpen Woes and Missed Opportunities
The bullpen was shorthanded, which is never a good sign in the middle of 13 straight days of games. Ethan Pecko, making his fourth major-league start, got them through the fifth with a 2-0 lead, courtesy of Paredes’s bases-loaded, two-out single in the third. Enyel De Los Santos came in and was lights out, retiring all five batters he faced, even as Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly scored one of Pecko’s inherited runners. Paredes added another RBI single in the fifth, making it 3-1.
But then things got shaky. Steven Okert is out with a hamstring injury, and both Bryan Abreu and Bennett Sousa had pitched the last two days. Kai-Wei Teng drew the seventh inning and struggled, retiring just one of three batters and walking two. AJ Blubaugh, the rookie who’s been blooming into a leverage option, entered with the tying run on base. He gave up Nootbaar’s RBI double, but he somehow managed to strand Ryan Waldschmidt at third, getting a pop-up from Perdomo and whiffing Moreno. Josh Hader did his part in the ninth, retiring the side on just 10 pitches, but he didn’t come back for a second inning, having only worked multiple innings twice in 40 outings this season. So Bryan King, recalled from Triple-A, got the call for his first outing in the 10th and allowed Moreno’s game-winner. To make matters worse, the heart of Houston’s lineup couldn’t even move their extra-innings runner 90 feet, with Brandyn Garcia striking out Yordan Alvarez and Altuve after a pop-up from Paredes.
Houston is now 73-69, still three games ahead of the Rangers, who also lost to Tampa Bay. But letting a 3-1 lead disappear so late in a game, especially with the Rangers losing, just makes this sting even more. They needed to secure that lead and take another step forward in the division. Now, they’ve got to regroup fast.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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