Yainer Diaz slams walk-off homer as Astros edge Rays

Yainer Diaz socked an opposite-field, walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Diaz clubbed his seventh home run off Rays’ left-handed reliever Garrett Cleavinger (0-1), who struck out the first two batters of the ninth. Diaz drilled a first-pitch slider to right for the victory.

Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Astros rallied to draw even.

Jake Meyers opened the frame with a double to left-center field off Rays’ reliever Kevin Kelly and scored when Zach Dezenzo followed with an infield single. The grounder was fielded by second baseman Curtis Mead, who attempted a challenging jump throw that eluded first baseman Jonathan Aranda and allowed Meyers to round third base and score the tying run.

The Rays grabbed a 1-0 lead on the second pitch of the game when Jose Caballero smacked his second home run of the season 383 feet to left field off Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (5-4).

That was the extent of the damage surrendered by Valdez, who retired 12 consecutive batters following the Caballero homer. Aranda opened the fifth with a single, but Valdez erased him by getting Mead to hit into a double play. Valdez then retired the Rays in order in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Valdez allowed a one-out single to Taylor Walls in the ninth, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After a walk to Caballero, Diaz cut down Walls as he attempted to steal third base. Valdez completed the ninth by getting Yandy Diaz to ground out to short. He allowed one run on three hits, with one walk and nine strikeouts. He threw only 83 pitches.

Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot was brilliant in producing his fifth consecutive quality start.

Pepiot faced the minimum through four innings, thanks in large part to a base-running gaffe by Meyers in the bottom of the third. Meyers dumped a single into shallow left field to open that frame, and with one out, broke for second base on a pitch to Mauricio Dubon, who sent a line drive to Caballero in right field. Meyers hesitated a beat as Caballero made the catch and was doubled off first base to end the threat.

Pepiot cruised from there, retiring the Astros in order in the fourth and sixth and working around a two-out walk to Cam Smith in the fifth. He set down Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve to open the seventh but departed when Christian Walker slapped a single to center field.

Pepiot allowed two hits and one walk while recording four strikeouts over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He tossed 93 pitches, 61 for strikes, in his second consecutive scoreless appearance.

–Field Level Media