HOUSTON -- Astros closer Josh Hader has pitched enough innings at Daikin Park to understand that any fly ball that’s hit in the air to left field has the potential to bring damage. Especially with the bases loaded and in the 10th inning of a tied game.
Hader could only hope for the best when Angel Martínez lofted a sinker toward the left-field wall Tuesday night, but the ball sailed into the front row of the Crawford Boxes for a two-out grand slam that sent the Astros to a 10-6 loss -- the first time they’ve lost consecutive games in a month.
“Game of inches,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “A hit away [from winning] and that ball there leaving the yard. … It happens. I like the fight of our guys.”
Martínez’s homer traveled a Statcast-projected 334 feet and would have been a home run in only Daikin Park, which underscored a frustrating 10th for Hader. He inherited a runner at second, intentionally walked red-hot José Ramírez and threw a four-pitch walk to Carlos Santana to load the bases.
“The only at-bat that I could probably have said something [negative] about is the Santana at-bat; I just didn’t give him a competitive pitch,” Hader said. “It seemed like he was taking the whole way, but I executed my pitches when I needed to. The one I executed went over. That’s what happens at this park sometimes, you know?”
The Guardians scored all 10 runs against the American League Pitcher of the Month for June (Hunter Brown) and Reliever of Month for June (Hader), both of whom are headed to next week’s All-Star Game in Atlanta. Brown allowed a season-high six runs in six innings, raising his ERA to 2.21 from a Major League-leading 1.82 entering the game.
“I just thought that they were really on me,” Brown said. “I’ve thrown a lot of innings this year and I haven’t really felt that, so whatever it is, props to them. I’ve got to get back into the video room and stuff and my next bullpen and focus up and see what I can do to make an adjustment before the next outing.”
Brown’s next outing could come in Sunday’s series finale against the Rangers, which would take him out of consideration for pitching in the All-Star Game. The Astros had won Brown’s previous seven starts, including all five in June in which he posted a 1.19 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP.
Brown gave up a two-run homer to Ramírez in the first and a two-run single by Daniel Schneemann in the third. Brayan Rocchio’s homer in the fourth made it 6-1.
“I felt like they were all over everything,” Brown said. “I felt good about my stuff coming into the game after [my] pregame bullpen. The changeup I threw to Ramírez, obviously, was not where I wanted to locate it, but outside of that, I thought, honestly, they just handled me pretty well.”
The Astros’ five-run deficit seemed insurmountable, considering they were playing without regulars Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez and Jake Meyers -- who are all injured -- and Christian Walker, who’s on the paternity list. But Houston chipped away. Jose Altuve’s two-run double sparked a three-run fifth inning that cut the lead to 6-4, and RBI hits by Taylor Trammell and Altuve in the eighth tied the game.
Houston went 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position, with both hits being by Altuve.
“I thought we battled back against some of their high-leverage relievers,” Espada said. “I thought the lefty in the beginning [starter Joey Cantillo] gave us a tough time -- the fastball, changeup kind of kept us off-balance, but I thought we gave us a chance there at the end.”
Supervising Club Reporter Brian McTaggart has covered the Astros since 2004, and for MLB.com since 2009.