Lowe And Behold! Texas Rangers Hold Off Astros, Even Series On Nathaniel Lowe's Slump-Busting Single In 10th
HOUSTON — The defending World Series champion Texas Rangers are fighting to remain relevant ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.
On Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, they reached back for some of that postseason mojo from a season ago to outlast the Houston Astros 2-1 in 10 innings.
Nathaniel Lowe, who was mired in an 0 for 14 stretch since a three-hit on Monday, busted out by serving a 3-2 pitch to the opposite field in left-center to score Josh Smith with the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the 10th.
"I've been beating myself lately. I feel like I'm trying to do more because you see the All-Star guys doing their thing and guys around the league who are having a lot of success, so you feel like the tides gonna turn a little bit," said Lowe, who is batting .264. "Instead of sticking to my approach, I've tried to do more. And [that at-bat], I just got back to being comfortable and just hit the ball."
Closer RHP Kirby Yates threw a scoreless 10th to earn his 15th save. He hasn't allowed an earned run in 10 consecutive appearances and in 17 of his past 18.
It's Lowe's ninth-career hit to give his team the lead in extra innings.
"Intense game. No getting around it. Both sides had to make a lot of pitches with the game on the line," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. "For Nate, rough day for him until that at-bat. "He's been out of sync. He hasn't been seeing the ball well, that was pretty obvious. You just keep grinding, and with two strikes, great job of two-strike hitting."
Three thoughts from Saturday's game:
1. Evo The Magnificent
Nathan Eovaldi put together one of his best outings of the first half, holding the Astros to a run on eight hits and no walks over seven innings. Eovaldi struck out seven, including five consecutive batters between the fourth and sixth innings. Eovaldi allowed four of the eight hits and his lone run in the first inning. He retired 14 of the next 15 batters into the sixth inning.
2. Walk This Way
The Rangers walked a season-high nine times on Saturday. Their previous high was seven walks, which they've done three times, the last of which was May 18 against the Angels. Seven of the nine walks came between the sixth and ninth innings.
Nine walks issued by Houston tied a season-high for Astros pitchers.
3. Up Next
Max Scherzer (1-2, 3.09) faces Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco (9-3, 2.53) in the series and first-half finale at 1:10 p.m. Sunday. It's Scherzer's fifth start since returning from injury on June 23. Right-hander Jon Gray, who is also on normal four-days rest, is available out of the bullpen if necessary, Bruce Bochy said
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