HOUSTON — The final blow that sank the Texas Rangers on Friday night was dealt by their Southern foes in the same excruciating fashion as so many others in recent years.
Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve — a Rangers assassin if there ever was one in this era — hit a misplaced pitch into the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park for a three-run homer that ended any good vibes Texas had managed to muster over the past week.
Altuve, who will not compete in Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Globe Life Field to rest a sore thumb, has hit 35 regular-season homers against the Rangers since 2015. He hit seven of them last season. Five of them came during a three-game series in early September in which the Rangers were swept and left clinging to a postseason hope.
Yes, it all sounds a bit familiar.
The thing about Altuve’s decisive homer in Friday’s 6-3 loss to Houston, though, is that it was made possible by errors, not just the potent changeup that Jose Ureña let the nine-time All-Star hit. These Rangers — who have now lost consecutive games and are 7 1/2 games behind the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners — must operate within the narrowest of margins between now and this month’s trade deadline to stay in the race.
The mistakes should be fewer, if not non-existent. Friday’s loss was too much for the Rangers, especially against the team that stands between them and the division leaders.
The first defensive error: Mauricio Dubón reached base to lead off the third inning on a soft grounder that shortstop Corey Seager (who hit a two-run homer in the sixth) struck out for his sixth error of the season. Rangers starter Andrew Heaney walked No. 9 hitter Chas McCormick but got Altuve and Alex Bregman to pop out for the first two outs of the inning. Then Houston’s Yordan Alvarez hit a 100.4 mph grounder deep into the hole that Seager was able to field but hesitated a moment before attempting a throw to first.
Alvarez, whose 26 feet per second speed ranks in the bottom 16th percentile in the league, according to Baseball Savant, outpaced Seager’s throw at first base and allowed Dubon (who ran out with two outs on a full count) to score from second base and give the Astros a 1-0 lead.
“He thought he had a chance at first base, that if he caught it, he had it,” Bochy said. “He thought he had a chance there. You have to go for it. It’s a running count, so Dubon had a chance there. It’s one of those plays, as a shortstop, if you think you have a chance, you go for it.”
The second defensive error: Ureña, who replaced Heaney to start the sixth inning, retired the first two Houston batters he faced before walking Dubón. McCormick then hit a slow grounder to third baseman Josh Smith, who fielded the ball on a difficult play but sent his throw to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for his fifth error of the season. Altuve hit the third pitch he saw from Ureña 365 feet into the left-field seats to give the Astros a 6-2 lead.
“It was just a dribbler, a tough play,” Bochy said. “Actually, the walk with two outs in the sixth inning was what really hurt me. It’s not like Jose, he had good stuff, he was throwing well. The changeup was stuck in the middle of the plate.”
Pitching mistakes: Urena’s changeup was the third and final pitching error. Heaney, who had a strong performance and allowed just two earned runs in five innings, committed the first two. In the fourth inning, he left a 90.9 mph fastball over the center of the plate to Jake Meyers, and the Houston center fielder connected to left field for a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, against Bregman, Heaney left a fastball in the lower center of the strike zone that the Houston third baseman connected on for a 380-foot home run that gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
“I was just trying to challenge him, he got a good shot on him,” Heaney said. “Meyers was 1-1 (count), he probably could have been a little bit more fine-tuned with that one, you don’t have to be so aggressive in the zone with him.”
Heaney, who entered the game with a 2.96 ERA over his last 67 innings pitched, admitted he was “not as sharp” as he had been lately. He still generated a game-high 11 swings, struck out four of the first six batters he faced and held a Houston team that had scored six or more runs in four of its last six games to a pair of solo homers.
“I’ve said it a million times: Solo home runs don’t beat you,” he said before pausing. “Usually.”
Generally they don’t. Mistakes allow it.
Twitter/X: @McFarland_Shawn
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