Houston Astros at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball

Houston Astros

64-55, 32-29 Away

Final
3 - 2

Tampa Bay Rays

59-60, 31-33 Home

Bregman and Peña homer as the AL West-leading Astros beat the Rays 3-2

Yusel Kikuchi (6-9) allowed one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings to go 2-0 in three starts with the Astros since being acquired from Toronto on July 29.

Josh Hader got three outs for his 26th save in 27 chances for the Astros, who increased their division lead to 1 1/2 games over Seattle. The Mariners lost 15-1 at Detroit.

“Just urgency, there’s fire,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “This a team that loves winning. They know how to win. They stay together. We fight through up and downs, and that’s the character and makeup of this team. It’s what makes this group so special.”

Hader has converted a franchise-record 26 consecutive saves.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with one out in the eighth against struggling reliever Ryan Pressly. Brandon Lowe made it 3-2 on a one-hop fielder's choice before Christopher More hit a grounder to end the inning. Pressly has allowed a run in four straight appearances.

“He's good physically,” Espada said. “He got out of that inning. He's making his pitches, and they're putting some swings on pitches that he's executing."

Junior Caminero, the majors' No. 2 prospect, was recalled from Triple-A Durham by the Rays and had an infield hit and struck out three times. The 21-year-old got his right leg tangled with catcher Victor Caratini on a first-inning foul at the plate and favored it again after a swinging strike three.

“I felt very good,” Caminero said through a translator. “I tried to keep my focus. I think that was the main important part.”

Caminero, who appeared in seven games with Tampa Bay last season, made a couple strong defensive plays at third base.

Tampa Bay (59-60) dropped under .500 after losing for the sixth time in eight games.

Bregman set a career high with a homer in his fourth consecutive game, a solo shot in the fifth. Peña's solo drive off Shane Baz (0-2) put the Astros ahead 3-1. Bregman had three hits.

Baz gave up three runs and seven hits over a career-high seven innings in his seventh start since returning from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander hasn't recorded a win since July 3, 2022.

The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the second due to the hustling of José Caballero, who turned a two-out ground single into a double when he saw left fielder Chas McCormick not charging in on the ball. Caballero then scored on a single by Josh Lowe.

“A little more urgency out of Chas,” Espada said.

Houston tied it at 1 on Yainer Diaz's third-inning RBI single.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: RHP Justin Verlander (neck) will throw 70 to 75 pitches in his second minor league rehab start on Thursday, and could be back next week.

Astros RHP Ronel Blanco (9-6, 3.02 ERA) will face Rays RHP Zack Littell (5-8, 4.11 ERA) on Wednesday night.

How can I watch Houston Astros vs. Tampa Bay Rays?

TV Channel: Astros at Rays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rays: 45.2%

Astros: 54.8%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	J. Lowe grounded out to first.
	9th Inning	Caballero popped out to first.
	9th Inning	Caminero struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Hader relieved Pressly
	9th Inning	Bregman struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Altuve grounded out to shortstop.

Statistics

HOU		TB
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
8	Ground Balls	11
9	Strikeouts	9
3	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
9	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	1
2	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	2
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
36	At Bats	33
2	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	7
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	1
19	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	0
121	Pitches	147
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
16	Total Bases	6
38	Plate Appearances	34
324.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
3	Extra Base Hits	1
4.3	Runs Created	0.5
.250	Batting Average	.152
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.444	Slugging Percentage	.182
.250	Secondary Average	.091
.289	On Base Percentage	.176
.734	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.358
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.8
4.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.5
29.0	Batter Rating	16.0
18.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.18	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.32
.194	Isolated Power	.030
0.22	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.11
.053	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.029
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.061
6.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
81.5	MLB Rating	65.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0