Astros seeking turnaround as tough losses mount and Deadline looms

HOUSTON -- The Astros had a 93 percent win probability when Isaac Paredes reached on a throwing error to load the bases in the 10th inning Saturday afternoon. Nick Allen was standing on third base representing the winning run, but in a season where nothing has come easy for the Astros, getting the final 90 feet proved to be impossible.

After failing to score the winning run despite loading the bases with no outs in the 10th, the Astros gave up two runs with two outs in the 11th, as the Orioles sent them to their third loss in a row and fifth in their last six games, 4-2, at Daikin Park.

“We had opportunities to take the lead and win that game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “That’s a tough loss there.”

This was game No. 100 of the season, so it’s no longer accurate to say the season is still young. If this team is going to go on a run, especially with the Trade Deadline a couple of weeks away, the time would be now. Back-to-back late losses to open the second half have dropped the Astros (47-53) four games out of first place in the American League West.

The Astros have said they will be buyers at the Trade Deadline -- they need a left-handed outfield bat, a right-handed reliever and could use another starting pitcher -- but nothing is guaranteed if they fall further out of the race by Aug. 3. The team that blew an eighth-inning lead Friday and has gone 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position in its last two games doesn’t look like a club primed for a playoff push.

“I think we played really well the last few days,” Espada said. “We could have won both games. I’m looking at the effort, I’m looking at the intensity, I’m looking at the commitment to winning, our attitude. And that’s what we want. If we can continue to do this, things will turn around.”

To make matters even worse, the Astros had two players leave the game with an injury. Shortstop Jeremy Peña, who’s already been on the injured list twice this season with soft-tissue injuries, and first baseman Christian Walker both exited the game following swings.

Peña was diagnosed with a right hamstring cramp following a third-inning swing and Walker was removed with right hip tightness following a fourth-inning check swing. Both were expected to get testing postgame, Espada said.

The Orioles pushed a run across in the 10th, before the Astros tied the game on an ground-rule RBI double by Yordan Alvarez that might have scored the winning run from first had it not bounced into the stands. Still, the Astros proceeded to load the bases with no outs, putting Allen at third as the winning run.

With five Baltimore defenders stationed on the infield, Jose Altuve poked an 0-2 pitch into center field, where right fielder Tyler O’Neill made a long run from right-center to catch it in shallow center. Allen tagged up from third, but was thrown out by O’Neill for a double play. Alvarez moved to third on the play.

“He was in [right-center] field and he ran almost all the way to straight-up center -- plants, throws. You’ve got to force him to make that play,” Espada said.

LaMonte Wade Jr. followed with a bunt toward third base, but Baltimore pitcher Andrew Kittredge fielded it and threw out Wade to end the inning as Alvarez crossed the plate.

In the 11th, Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson scored from second base on a ground ball off the bat of O’Neill that was 54.5 mph off the bat. Altuve, who was playing to pull on a right-handed hitter and was standing nearly directly behind second base, had a long run to get the grounder and threw late to first. Henderson never stopped running from second.

“Jose’s playing behind the bag and O’Neill runs well,” Espada said. “It’s a tough play.”

Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, pitching for the first time in 10 days, held the Orioles to one hit and one run while striking out six in five innings, but he was forced to throw 85 pitches because he walked three batters and hit a batter. Still, he made changes to his mechanics between starts and threw harder and was in a better rhythm -- positive signs for a club in desperate need of them.

“I've said it probably a hundred times this year [that] I just want to give the team a chance to win every time I take the ball, and I feel like I did that today,” Arrighetti said.