Santana caps' Rangers rally over Astros with walk-off
Danny Santana delivered a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning, plating Elvis Andrus and delivering the Texas Rangers a 9-8 win over the Houston Astros on Friday in Arlington.
Texas rallied from a four-run deficit against the Houston bullpen, capping the comeback against Astros closer Roberto Osuna (3-2).
The Rangers slugged five home runs to outlast the Astros and claim the opening two games of this four-game set. Shawn Kelley (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth in the victory.
Houston belted four home runs, with rookie Yordan Alvarez recording his first multi-homer game. Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve also homered, notching their 15th and 11th respectively.
Trailing 8-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers scored a pair of runs in each of their ensuing two at-bats.
Tim Federowicz smacked Texas' fourth homer, a solo shot off Astros right-hander Will Harris. The Rangers tacked on another run that frame on a throwing error by catcher Robinson Chirinos, then tied the game in the eighth when Ronald Guzman clanked a 419-foot, two-run blast off the right field foul pole against reliever Hector Rondon.
Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole surrendered four earned runs -- his most in nine starts -- and three solo homers, yet departed with a 7-4 lead based on his otherwise dominant performance. His 13 strikeouts were one shy of his season high of 14 recorded on June 7 against Baltimore.
Shin-Soo Choo, Santana and Joey Gallo all homered off Cole, with Choo socking his 14th on an 0-2 fastball leading off the first inning. Santana pulled the Rangers even at 2-2 with a 431-foot shot into the upper deck in right field in the second inning before Gallo tied the game at 3-3 with his 21st home run to right-center field in the fourth.
Texas squared the game again in the fifth when Andrus delivered an RBI single to right field that scored Guzman.
--Field Level Media