Twins walked off for second straight day in Houston
HOUSTON — There was a decent chance that Joe Ryan and Hunter Brown, Saturday's starters, would provide a pitcher's duel. But Brandon Walter, making just his third-career start and Simeon Woods Richardson, recently recalled from Triple-A?
Well, that was a little less predictable.
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That exactly what happened on Sunday, with Woods Richardson turning in a strong five-inning start in his hometown and yet, for the second straight day, a solid start went for naught as the Astros rallied back in the ninth inning to tie the game and in the 10th inning, Mauricio Dubón sent a ball out to left that Willi Castro got a glove on but could not grab, scoring Jake Meyers and sending the Astros to a walk-off 2-1 win at Daikin Park.
Limited to just two hits through the first eight innings of the game, the Astros got to closer Jhoan Duran for the second straight day. Duran started his outing by issuing a four-pitch walk to Jeremy Peña. The Astros shortstop would come around to score the game-tying run on a Victor Caratini sacrifice fly.
An inning later, the Astros did what the Twins could not, scoring their automatic runner. It sent the Twins to their second-straight walk-off loss and it came as part of a game that they had led since the second inning. For the second straight day, Brooks Lee sent a ball out to the Crawford Boxes. His home run in the third inning, one of three hits on the day for him, was the only blemish on Walter's day, which lasted 6 2/3 innings.
Though the Twins threatened throughout the game, they ended up leaving a pair of runners on in the third, fifth and seventh innings. The Twins also couldn't cash in on a leadoff double in the eighth inning as Willi Castro was quickly wiped off the bases. And in the 10th, they couldn't advance their automatic runner past second base against all-star closer Josh Hader.
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All told, they finished the day 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight on.
But while they had their opportunities that they couldn't take advantage of, their pitchers gave Houston very few of them for much of the day.
Woods Richardson was stellar, beginning his outing by retiring the first 13 batters he faced. The first and only hit he gave up came in the fifth inning. It preceded a walk, but he locked in and then retired the next two batters in order to end the Astros' threat.
In his second start since returning to the majors, Woods Richardson was pulled at just 53 pitches rather than getting a chance to face the Astros' order a third time through.
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The Twins then turned the game over to the bullpen, getting a combined three scoreless innings from Brock Stewart, who struck out two of the three batters he faced, and Louie Varland, who threw two innings for the first time this season before Duran gave up the lead in the ninth.
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