Astros Lose Tuesday Night 4-3 to Rangers

Despite a home run from Jose Altuve, the Astros dropped a 4-3 decision to the Texas Rangers Tuesday night.

Framber Valdez came into the game against Texas with a 6-0 record, 1.49 ERA, an opponent batting average of .173, and an opponent slugging percentage of .246 in eight starts against the Rangers, but he ran into some trouble early on after he gave up two runs to Ezequiel Duran, who hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Mark Mathias who had walked earlier. Then Sam Huff drove in Duran with an RBI single after Altuve threw an errant ball past Yuli Gurriel at first to give the Rangers a 3-0 in the top of the second.

The Astros struck back in the bottom of the inning when Kyle Tucker singled and then proceeded to second base on a passed ball. Tucker then decided to steal third base and scored when Gurriel drove him in on a routine ground ball to first, making the score 3-1 Rangers.

Jose Altuve hit his 24th home run of the year to right field that barely made it over the wall in the bottom of the third inning to make it 3-2 Rangers. It was reviewed for possible fan interference, but upon further review, it was declared a legitimate home run. Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart tweeted out a spray chart of Jose Altuve hits in 2022 and said that was Altuve’s third home run to right field this year.

Tucker was stealing bases left and right tonight, with his second stolen base coming in the top of the 4th inning, which was his 22nd on the year, making him tied for sixth place in stolen bases in the American League this year. He stole first to second base. Chas McCormick tied the game up at 3 with two men on, scoring Kyle Tucker.

After a few scoreless innings, the Rangers finally broke the tie in the 7th with two men at the corners and Valdez let a pitch get away from him and land in the dirt, allowing Corey Seager to score from third to take the lead 4-3. That was all she wrote for Valdez as he went 6 2/3rd innings, with 6 hits, 3 earned runs, and 11 strikeouts on 107 pitches. Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart tweeted that the 6th would be his last inning and that his quality win streak would remain intact, regardless of any more unearned runs. The Astros replaced Valdez with Phil Maton who struck out the side to end the inning.

The Astros lost tonight’s game 4-3, but still, take the Silver Boot Series for the sixth consecutive year.

News and notes

The Astros will play the Rangers again Wednesday night at 7:10 and on the mound for the Astros will be Cristian Javier (8-9), 3.07 ERA) and for the Rangers, it will be Cole Ragans (0-2, 4.42 ERA)