Jose Altuve keeps writing new chapters in his World Series champion, MVP career for the Houston Astros. He did it again on Friday night, helping the Astros rally past the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Minute Maid Park.
Altuve slammed a one-out double off the left-field wall. When the ball came off the wall, it bounced away from Kansas City’s left fielder. Jake Meyers, who connected for a one-out single in the ninth, was running all the way. Meyers scored and his teammates mobbed Altuve out at second base.
Houston Astros Find A Way to Win
The Houston Astros are now 73-62 overall after posting their third straight victory. Before Altuve’s heroics, though, the game’s storylines revolved around Framber Valdez, Josh Hader, and Royals player Paul DeJong.
Jose Altuve’s #walkoff double sends @Astros fans home happy 🚀 pic.twitter.com/NwxASyWwXg
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2024
Valdez continued his mound mastery against Kansas City. He kept Royals hitters off-balance and pitched seven no-hit innings.
Before the eighth inning, though, Houston Astros manager Joe Espada removed Valdez. Bryan Abreu came on and pitched a scoreless eighth. Valdez struck out seven Royals and hit a batter, The Associated Press reported.
Now Abreu’s work set things up for Astros reliever Josh Hader to come in and seal the deal. Hader, though, blew a save for the second time this season. He entered Friday’s game with a 29-straight save streak. Hader has been solid for the Houston Astros out of the bullpen.
But the Royals, who broke up the no-hit bid with an eighth-inning hit, got a lifeline delivered to them. Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña committed his second error in two nights, putting Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. at first base. DeJong came up and connected off Hader for a game-tying, two-run homer into the Crawford Boxes.
Framber Valdez, Nasty 80mph Curveball. 😨
7th K thru 7…and 🤫 pic.twitter.com/sWCCq1eSid
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 31, 2024
Hader didn’t allow anymore base runners. This set the stage for Altuve, who is looked upon by many fans as the greatest Astros player in the franchise’s long history, to play hero.
The Houston Astros jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Recently acquired outfielder Ben Gamel clobbered a popped a Statcast-projected 356-foot home run into the first row of the Crawford Boxes in the third inning, and Jeremy Peña hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to score Yainer Diaz for a 2-0 lead.
Royals, Astros Deal With Injuries
For the Royals, they got some bad news about first baseman Vinnie Pantaenoero on Friday. He is lost for the rest of the regular season. Pantaenoero broke his right thumb while attempting to make a play on Diaz on Thursday night. He will have to undergo surgery and faces 6 to 8 weeks of recovery time.
Alex Bregman was out of the Houston lineup with elbow inflammation, MLB.com reported. Bregman reportedly reached out to Espada on Friday morning, telling his manager about the situation. “He came in and saw the trainers and so he’s just not available to start the game,” Espada said. “It’s a day-to-day thing, but it was pretty sore this morning.”
He has made it clear that this will be an ongoing issue for the rest of this season. Outfielder Kyle Tucker continues to make strides in his recovery from a shin contusion. Tucker has no plans to take a rehab assignment. He wants to stay up with the Astros and take live batting practice. Tucker did this on Friday while also working in the outfield.
The Astros and Royals continue their four-game series on Saturday.
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