Mauricio Dubon delivered a walk-off RBI single Wednesday afternoon for the host Houston Astros, who maintained their tenuous hold on first place in the American League West by earning a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
The Astros (85-68) salvaged the finale of the three-game series shortly after the Texas Rangers, tied for second in the AL West, routed the Boston Red Sox 15-5 earlier in the day. Seattle beat Oakland to remain tied with the Rangers, a half-game behind Houston.
The AL East-leading Orioles (95-57) had their four-game winning streak snapped. With Tampa Bay also losing Wednesday, Baltimore maintained its 2 1/2-game lead over the Rays in the division.
Houston needed just six pitches to score the winning run off Danny Coulombe (5-2) in the bottom of the ninth. Yainer Diaz doubled on Coulombe’s first pitch and moved to third when Chas McCormick grounded out to second. Dubon singled to right on the next pitch.
Ryan Pressly (4-5) threw a perfect top of the ninth to earn the win for Houston.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish struck out nine and allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings. Reliever Jacob Webb tossed a perfect seventh before the Astros scored the tying run in the eighth. Shintaro Fujinami walked two of the three batters he faced and Jeremy Pena’s double off Michael Baumann scored Dubon.
Astros starter Cristian Javier allowed one run on three hits and two walks while striking out 11 over five innings. The strikeouts tied a season high for Javier, who also whiffed 11 against the Los Angeles Angels on May 10.
The Orioles scored their lone run in the first, when Adley Rutschman doubled with one out and came home on Anthony Santander’s single. Javier retired 14 of the last 17 batters he faced.
Santander had two hits and a stolen base.
Bradish issued two walks while throwing at least six scoreless innings for the fifth time this season. He lowered his ERA to 3.01, the third-lowest mark in the AL.
–Field Level Media
