Oneil Cruz hits 15th home run in return Tuesday

In a must-win game for the Mariners, Naylor put them over the top with a 10th-inning single as Josh Hader imploded. It was a nice moment, but it doesn’t change how incredibly disappointing Naylor has been in his first full season with Seattle. He hadn’t had a hit since last Friday, that RBI was just his 55th overall, and he only has two home runs in the last three months.

Kirby just needs this season to end. The Astros jumped all over him for four runs in the third inning as he put his club in an early hole in what was a do-or-die game. The Mariners rallied back, and Kirby held the line from there, but the damage was done. As has been a trend lately, Kirby had poor command of both his sinker and sweeper and struggled dramatically with right-handed batters as a result. His ERA has been steadily rising since the All-Star break, and his regular season is over with a disappointing 4.33 mark.

What an odd night for Hader. First, he came on and pitched a scoreless ninth. Then, when the Astros took a one-run lead in the 10th, he came back out for the bottom of the inning. That wouldn’t be too weird for most closers, but Hader rarely throws multiple innings. He’d only gotten more than three outs twice this season and finished two innings once. He didn’t have it in his second inning, and that was clear from the jump. He walked three batters to set up a walk-off single by Josh Naylor in a critical loss for the Astros. In the end, he threw 44 pitches. The last time he threw over 20 was over a month ago, he hadn’t thrown 30 all year, and he hadn’t thrown at least 44 since 2019. Astros’ starter Ethan Pecko only threw 51 in this game and Hader clearly didn’t have that many in his tank.

Twice Diaz pushed the Mariners to the brink in this game. First, his two-run home run in the third made this game 4-0 early against George Kirby, but Seattle rallied back to tie it up. Then, he tripled home the go-ahead run in the 10th and stood at third base with just one out. Yet, he was stranded there and Josh Hader blew it just afterwards. Nevertheless, a torrid second half has brought Diaz up to a respectable .282 batting average and .772 OPS in what was previously thought to be a lost season.

It only took Pecko 26 pitches to get through the first two frames cleanly. Then, he completely fell apart in the third just after his lineup put up four runs in the top of that inning. A walk, single, wild pitch, and another walk set up a two-run single by Dominic Canzone and then, a run-scoring double by Julio Rodríguez chased Pecko. All in all, it was a disappointing outing by the rookie whose regular season may be over with a 4.31 ERA over 31 1/3 innings.

McLean ended his excellent rookie season in style with seven strong innings here. Clean through four, he ran into some trouble in the fifth when a few hard-hit ground balls found holes and turned into two runs. After that, McLean breezed through two more frames and a well-timed home run by Marcus Semien in the eighth put him in line for his 12th win. Still, McLean struggled to miss bats and heavily leaned into his strong sinker, as he has over the last month or so. It forced tons of ground balls though and he finally had a good feel for his curveball. In the end, he hurled 179 2/3 innings, struck out 194 batters, and wound up with a 3.16 ERA.

On the bench with the left-hander Cody Bradford starting for the Rangers, Baty came on as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and launched a gargantuan 455 foot grand slam. It was the second longest grand slam hit by any player this season and tied Baty’s longest home run in his career. In a bit of a shocking turn of events, he has a .280/.353/.534 slash line with seven home runs over 118 at-bats in the second half.

Playing desperate, the Rangers called on Latz to get them out of a big jam in the seventh inning with two runners on, one out, and Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette due up. He navigated that trouble, but gave up a go-ahead solo home run to former Ranger Marcus Semien in the following frame. This was the third loss he’s taken in his last eight appearances and he’s let up at least one earned run in four of those.

The Rangers’ lineup was lifeless in a must-win game as they tried to keep pace with the Astros in the American League West race. They only mustered four measly hits – none for extra bases – and two runs in this loss to the Mets. Burger was at least responsible for their only run scoring hit, but this was a brutal display by a team with their backs up against the wall. As for Burger, he’s been normally productive in the power department with 27 home runs and 89 RBI as the regular season comes to a close.

With the Rangers’ season hanging in the balance, Bradford didn’t have his best stuff against the Mets. They socked nine hard-hit balls out of 17 in play and in the end, he was fortunate to give up just two runs. He didn’t command his fastball well and at an average velocity of 89 mph, the Mets were all over it. His regular season is over and he wound up with a 4.19 ERA, 21 strikeouts, and 10 walks in 43 innings after recovering from internal brace surgery.