Aledmys Diaz drilled a grand slam with two outs in the fourth inning to spark a rally from a four-run deficit as the Houston Astros topped the visiting Texas Rangers 7-5 on Tuesday.
Diaz pulled the Astros even with his 10th home run and second grand slam this season, following consecutive two-out walks issued by Rangers left-hander Martin Perez (9-3).
Jose Altuve opened the fourth with a single and Yuli Gurriel followed with a walk, but Perez appeared to clear danger when he induced a double-play grounder off the bat of slugger Yordan Alvarez.
But Perez, who retired the first nine batters he faced, failed to regain his footing. He walked Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker before Diaz blasted an 0-1 changeup 432 feet to left-center field.
In the fifth, Altuve doubled home Jake Meyers and scored on Gurriel’s sacrifice fly for a 6-5 lead. In the sixth, Tucker chased Perez with a double off the scoreboard in left, scoring Bregman.
Perez suffered his first loss since April 17, a span of 19 starts. He had dominated the Astros in two starts this season, including a shutout on May 20. On Tuesday, he surrendered seven runs on six hits and three walks, with two strikeouts, over five-plus innings.
It didn’t take long for Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy (11-4) to see his streak of nine consecutive quality starts come to an end. Marcus Semien clubbed his 16th home run leading off the game. It was the first of three home runs surrendered by Urquidy, who allowed two additional baserunners in the top of the first.
Semien walked leading off the third and scored when Corey Seager smacked his 25th home run, a two-run shot to right-center that extended the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.
Texas pushed that advantage to 4-0 in the fourth when Bubba Thompson delivered an RBI single that scored Josh Smith. Adolis Garcia socked his 19th homer with one out in the fifth to put Texas ahead 5-4.
However, the Astros’ two-run rally in the bottom of the fifth made a winner of Urquidy, who surrendered five runs on five hits and two walks, with four strikeouts, over five innings.
Texas has dropped nine of 12 games to Houston this season.
–Field Level Media
