August 31, 2022 - Game 129
W - Cristian Javier (8-9)
L - Martín Pérez (10-5)
S- Rafael Montero (10)
HR: TEX: Seager (29)
Time of Game: 3:23
Game Recap
On Wednesday, the Rangers and Astros concluded their two-game set and the season series in Arlington. It was Martín Pérez Day for the fourth time against the Houston Astros as Cristian Javier opposed on the other side. Before the game, Tony Beasley talked about getting length from the starting pitching staff and how starters dictate how the game progresses. "Starting pitchers are going to tell the story," Beasley said. "They're going to be some weird nights where we make some stupid mistakes or something else. But, for the most part, the starting pitcher will always tell the game or dictate the outcome of the game." On Wednesday, the two starters had some laborious working innings.
Like yesterday, the Astros took the lead in the opening inning. Trey Mancini singled to center field, scoring Jose Altuve. In the Rangers' half of the inning, Corey Seager launched a two-run home run to the Rangers bullpen scoring Marcus Semien and giving Texas a 2-1 lead. "It's a cool milestone, I've always said I wanted to score runs," Semien said on joining the 20/20 club. "Running the bases well and smart [and] I get a ton of opportunities to especially on the Rangers to showcase what we can do on the bases. We have an aggressive mindset. The more the merrier and I'm going to try to get as many as I can." Texas made Cristian Javier work for a thirty-eight-pitch first inning, though they had the two-run homer to show for it. Houston got the two runs back on Altuve's double that hit the front base of the Texas bullpen wall to score two runs and put the Astros back by one. With two on in the inning, Martín Pérez got a lineout and a groundout to keep the inning limited to two runs. In the fourth, Kyle Tucker drove in two with a bases-loaded single to left field.
The Rangers picked up a run in the fifth on a Nathaniel Lowe single scoring Semien, finishing up August strong. Both teams went to their bullpen starting in the sixth inning and the Astros had a chance with two on in the seventh. Dennis Santana got a strikeout and a lineout ending the Houston threat. Meantime, Lowe doubled in the eighth, but couldn't score as Adolis García popped out and Kole Calhoun lined out. In the ninth, the Rangers brought the tying run to the plate, but a flyout and a strikeout ended the afternoon for the Rangers. "We had some chances today, but we were unable to come through with timely hits in some situation, but we did have scoring opportunities today," Beasley said. "Baseball games is full of moments and you have to win those moments and keep momentum in your favor."
Martín Pérez battled throughout the afternoon. Martín threw ninety-four pitches in five innings and allowed nine hits, five runs, four walks, and five strikeouts. "[The Astros] don't swing at too many pitches," Martín Pérez said in facing the Astros the past two times where Houston has gotten to him. They've been hitting good on my changeup [and] they've been waiting for that. Today I was showing a lot of fastballs in and they don't swing at that pitch. They made me work a lot."
When I spoke to Dennis Santana over the past weekend, he said he felt like he did early in the season when Santana was dominant from the pen. On Wednesday, he retired six of the eight batters, allowing one hit and one walk. Dennis struck out four. Brock Burke's eighth inning was a scoreless one where he allowed one hit on the afternoon. Brett Martin finished Wednesday putting up a zero in the ninth inning and striking out two. Martin also walked two batters in his inning totaling seven Rangers pitchers' walks on the day.
Postgame Notes
Rangers finish 12-16 in August and on a four-game losing streak.
The Astros have won four straight in Arlington vs. the Rangers and seven of the nine games played.
Nathaniel Lowe finished August with forty-two hits (.389) and an on-base percentage of .458. Lowe's forty-two hits were the most in a month since Elvis Andrus in August 2017 (43).
Adolis García’s on-base streak
Marcus Semien picked up his twentieth stolen base putting him at twenty home runs and twenty stolen bases (his first 20/20 of his career). He joins Adolis García as the two Rangers who are a part of the 20/20 club this season. It's the 2nd duo in Rangers history to accomplish this (Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler – 2009).
In his last thirty-two games vs. the Rangers, Kyle Tucker is hitting .339 with twenty-seven runs driven in.
In Martín Pérez's first two starts this season vs. Houston, he had a 0.56 ERA with one walk and nine strikeouts. Pérez's last two starts against the Astros, he has a 10.80 ERA with seven walks and six strikeouts.
Wednesday was the second time in the last thirteen games a Houston Astros starter did not have a quality start vs. the Rangers (José Urquidy on August 9th at Houston)
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