<\/p>\n
Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo gets set to tag out the Astros’ Nick Allen to complete a double play on a throw from Tyler O’Neill\u00a0as Houston tried to score the winning run in\u00a0the 10th inning Saturday.<\/p>\n
Alex Slitz\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti delivers to Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti delivers to Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti reacts as he worked against Baltimore Orioles’ Jackson Holliday during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, left, talks with Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti, right, with Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Adley Rutschman bat during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros’ Christian Walker holds his rib area after swinging at a pitch, he was taken back to the clubhouse without finishing his at bat against Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros’ Christian Walker is taken back to the clubhouse by a trainer and manager Joe Espada without finishing his at bat against Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso, left, slides into second base on Dylan Beavers’ single against Houston Astros shortstop Nick Allen, right, during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros’ Zach Dezenzo, left, slides home to score the tying run on Nick Allen’s sacrifice bunt during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
Houston Astros shortstop Nick Allen tags Baltimore Orioles’ Dylan Beavers out at second as Colton Cowser ground into a double play during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Karen Warren)<\/p>\n
Karen Warren\/AP Photo\/Karen Warren<\/p>\n
A painful loss<\/a> for the Houston Astros<\/a> on Saturday pivoted on two late plays. Both involved aggression on the basepaths. The first occurred on a ball hit by Jose Altuve to Baltimore\u2019s Tyler O\u2019Neill, the second on a ball hit by O\u2019Neill to Altuve.<\/p>\n In the bottom of the 10th inning, Altuve came up to hit in a 2-2 game with the bases loaded and no outs. As the Orioles met on the mound, center fielder Leody Taveras jogged to the infield and changed gloves. He set up near second base in a five-man infield, leaving most of center field open.<\/p>\n In an 0-2 count, Altuve lunged for a slider and lifted it into center. Right fielder Tyler O\u2019Neill ran over and caught the ball 271 feet from home plate, having circled it slightly to set his direction more toward home plate as Nick Allen tagged up from third base.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Astros manager Joe Espada later deemed it \u201c100 percent\u201d the correct decision to tag up and try to score on the play.<\/p>\n \u201c(O\u2019Neill) was in right field, he ran all the way to almost straight-up center, plants, throws,\u201d Espada said after the 4-2 loss. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to force him to make that play.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Allen: \u201cI was ready to go, I felt like I had a good jump, I got the green light from (third base coach) Tony (Perezchica). And I thought I would have been able to make it, he just made a really good throw.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill, who ranks in the 85th percentile among major-leaguers in arm strength, per Baseball Savant, made a throw that reached catcher Samuel Basallo in the air, a few feet up the third-base line. Basallo turned and tagged Allen as he passed on a head-first slide. The Astros did not challenge.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI think given the situation it was hard on (O\u2019Neill), he had to make a perfect play, and he did,\u201d Allen said. \u201cHats off to him.\u201d<\/p>\n It left runners on second and third still with two outs. LaMonte Wade Jr. took a strike from right-hander Andrew Kittredge, then bunted the next pitch toward third base. Kittredge fielded the ball bare-handed and threw out Wade by a half-step, ending the inning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first pitch, (third baseman Christian) Encarnacion-Strand was in,\u201d Wade said. \u201cI took it for a strike. Then I saw him back off \u2026 so I was like, I just need to get it over there, get it past the pitcher and close to the line and it should work out just like (his bunt single) in Texas. But didn\u2019t get it far enough. Kittredge made a good play. If I could do it over again, I would try and push it a little harder.\u201d<\/p>\n ALSO SEE: Situational hitting lets Astros down again vs. Orioles<\/a><\/p>\n Kittredge\u2019s play forced an 11th inning. Enyel De Los Santos issued a leadoff walk, then struck out his next two batters. O\u2019Neill came up with runners on first and second. In a full count, he hit a chopper slowly to the right side of the Astros\u2019 infield.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Altuve, the second baseman, was shaded nearly to the bag. He ran to his left, fielded the ball in front of him about halfway between first and second base and threw to first. O\u2019Neill beat it. Gunnar Henderson, running from second, never stopped and scored the go-ahead run.<\/p>\n \u201cJose\u2019s playing pull, he\u2019s almost playing behind the bag, O\u2019Neill runs well,\u201d Espada said. \u201cThat\u2019s a tough play.\u201d<\/p>\n Wade, the first baseman, also deemed it a \u201ctough play\u201d for Altuve, who was not available for comment postgame, given the distance to cover and pace of the ball. O\u2019Neill\u2019s grounder left the bat at 54.5 mph, per Statcast. Its spin off the end of O\u2019Neill\u2019s bat also made it less than straightforward, said Allen.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re coming through it fast, with all that spin on the ball, very hard play to make,\u201d said Allen, the middle infielder who entered Saturday\u2019s game after shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a left with a hamstring cramp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Allen said his read was \u201cthe main thing (Altuve) was trying to do was obviously field it cleanly, because we had a runner that was on second base.\u201d Though Henderson never stopped running rounding third, both Allen and Wade agreed the priority for the fielder in that situation is the play at first base.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd like I said, it\u2019s hard to be aggressive on that ball just because of the spin on it,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThey made an aggressive play and they went anyway, they were just hoping that he was going to make the throw to first. And it was the right play to make, because we still had a shot at first.\u201d<\/p>\n Henderson\u2019s run proved decisive, though Taveras added an RBI single for insurance. It resulted in what Espada acknowledged was \u201ca tough loss\u201d for the Astros. Their lineup finished 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. Their pitchers allowed just five hits and struck out 15 batters. Both Pe\u00f1a and first baseman Christian Walker exited by the fourth inning with injury concerns.<\/p>\n It dropped the Astros back to six games under .500 at 47-53. They\u2019ve emerged from the All-Star break with consecutive losses to Baltimore<\/a>, not the second-half start envisioned by a club that has declared itself a buyer at the Aug. 3 trade deadline<\/a>. Saturday marked its 100th game of the season. Espada said \u201cit\u2019s a little bit too early\u201d to be looking at standings.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI think we played really well the last two days, we could have won both games,\u201d Espada said. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the effort, I\u2019m looking at the intensity, I\u2019m looking at the commitment to winning, our attitude, and that\u2019s what we want. If we continue to do this, things will turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo gets set to tag out the Astros’ Nick Allen to complete a double play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-379399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}