Bryan Abreu gives up 2-run homer in ninth as Houston Astros fall to Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – An unorthodox pitching plan worked about as well as the Houston Astros could have hoped Friday. Their offense could not capitalize against another American League contender.

Junior Caminero cranked a walk-off, two-run home run against Bryan Abreu to send the Astros to a 3-1 loss in the opener of a series against the Tampa Bay Rays, who became the first American League team to clinch a spot in this year’s playoff field. Houston, which entered the day with a three-game lead in the AL West, ended it with a 75-73 record. 

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Using an opener, three Astros pitchers combined to hold the Rays to two hits before the ninth inning. Jonathan Aranda hit a one-out double against Abreu. With first base open, the Astros opted to face Caminero, the AL home run leader, who crushed a first-pitch fastball 417 feet to ignite a celebration at Tropicana Field.

The Astros totaled nine hits. But they were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position, with neither of the hits scoring a run, and stranded six men on base.

A 1-1 tie reached the ninth inning. The teams took different routes there. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen worked seven innings, navigating eight hits. One run against him scored on a fielder’s choice. He threw 92 pitches before Tampa Bay turned to its bullpen.

Houston used two relievers, Miguel Ullola and Bryan King, to face eight hitters before giving the ball to Ethan Pecko for bulk-innings work. Pecko delivered perhaps the best of his five major-league outings, allowing one run across 5⅔ innings against an offense that has tormented right-handed pitching.

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Ullola, King and Pecko combined to hold the Rays to two hits across eight innings. One was a 415-foot home run by Victor Mesa Jr. against Pecko that forged a tie in the fifth.

Ethan Pecko effective in bulk relief

Houston has used an opener in three games since Aug. 12. Manager Joe Espada has characterized those instances as trying to optimize innings for the starters who serve as the bulk-innings pitchers those days.

The Rays entered with the majors’ second-highest OPS against right-handed pitching this season (.756) and the sixth-lowest OPS against left-handed pitching (.685). Their lineup Friday included a span of five consecutive left-handed hitters starting with the cleanup spot.

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Pecko, who was on turn to start Friday, instead entered with one out in the third inning, after the run of lefties had taken its first at-bats. He lasted through the eighth, navigating the Rays’ full lineup twice, and allowed just one hit, the home run by Mesa on a first-pitch fastball.

Otherwise, Pecko was excellent. He dialed up his cutter usage against a raft of lefties and induced mostly weak contact. He did not walk a batter until the seventh inning, the first walk issued by either club. Mesa stole second base, but Pecko got Chandler Simpson to ground out to strand him.

With Abreu warming, Houston sent Pecko back out for the eighth. Pecko issued a one-out walk to Richie Palacios. Still, Espada did not move from the dugout. Pecko broke Jorge Mateo‘s bat on a soft groundball to Peña, who started an inning-ending double play.

Offense vs Rasmussen

A control artist who relies on three variations of fastballs, Rasmussen skirted traffic across seven innings of one-run ball. The Astros struck eight hits against him, all but one singles. They put a runner on base in five of his innings. Only one scored. Rasmussen recorded 10 outs with ground balls.

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He induced double plays in two of his first three innings to work around three hits. The Astros struck in the fourth. Isaac Paredes doubled and Daulton Varsho singled. Yainer Diaz bounced another potential double-play grounder but beat the relay, allowing Paredes to score for a 1-0 lead.

That was all Rasmussen allowed. He struck out Jeremy Peña to strand two runners in the fifth inning. He retired seven of his final eight batters. Rasmussen struck out four and did not issue a walk. Houston put 10 balls in play against him with exit velocities over 95 mph, neutralized by the ground-ball rate.

Opener (s) for the Astros

Ullola, the converted starter, drew the opener assignment for his sixth major-league outing. He became the 19th different pitcher to start a game for the Astros this season, a franchise record.

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The Rays lineup Friday featured six left-handed hitters. Right-handed Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero occupied two of the top three spots. Houston essentially tasked Ullola with facing those three hitters. King, the left-hander, warmed as the game began.

Ullola did his job, retiring Díaz, left-handed Jonathan Aranda and Caminero, the American League home run leader, on 13 pitches. Ullola has been unscored upon in all but one of his six outings with Houston.

King entered in the second and faced the run of five left-handed hitters. He retired the first four, all on ground balls. The fifth, Richie Palacios, also hit a grounder, but up the third-base line with Isaac Paredes pulled the other way. The single ended King’s outing and pressed Pecko into the game.

Injury updates

Carlos Correa is scheduled to take at-bats in live batting practice Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla., said Espada. It will be Correa’s first time facing live pitching since undergoing surgery for a torn peroneus brevis tendon in his left ankle in May. Correa has run bases, fielded grounders and taken batting practice at the Astros’ minor-league facility in his attempt to return to the majors this year.

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Brice Matthews played nine innings in center field for Triple-A Sugar Land on Thursday, starting a rehab assignment in his recovery from a left knee sprain. Matthews is scheduled to play second base at Sugar Land on Saturday. Right-hander Mike Burrows, who had a setback with his shoulder while attempting a return from elbow neuritis, is scheduled to throw from a mound Sunday.

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This article originally published at Bryan Abreu gives up 2-run homer in ninth as Houston Astros fall to Tampa Bay.

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