The Houston Astros staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.
Zack Greinke was in vintage form, pitching six terrific innings for the win, allowing just two runs and five hits with seven strikeouts, throwing 93 pitches. Tyler Glasnow allowed four runs and eight hits also over six innings to take the loss.
Astros stay alive behind Greinke's arm, long balls
After Greinke pitched a one-two-three top of the first, Houston, as they often have in this series, struck early as Jose Altuve drove a solo home run, his fourth of the series, to right field off of Glasnow to make it 1-0.
Glasnow ran into trouble in the bottom of the third, walking Martin Maldonado before he advanced to second on a liner by George Springer. Michael Brantley walked and Altuve doubled to right field, driving home Maldonado to increase the lead to 2-0.
After cruising through the first three innings, Greinke allowed Tampa Bay to tie the game in the top of the fourth. Austin Meadows singled and Randy Arozarena hit one into the second deck into left field to make it 2-2.
The Astros regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Maldonado singled and Springer connected for a two-run blast to restore Houston's two-run lead. Brantley followed with a single, but Glasnow got through the inning without any more damage.
Back-to-back singles by Manuel Margot and Meadows put two men on. Ji-Man Choi reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs, but Mike Brosseau struck out on a controversial call to leave them loaded.
Glasnow came back out for the bottom of the sixth and despite allowing singles to Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, the Rays' righty got through the inning unscathed.
Cristian Javier was excellent out of the Houston bullpen, pitching into the ninth before yielding to closer Ryan Pressly, who struck out pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe and got Wendle to hit into a fielder's choice before Willy Adames' double trimmed the Astros' lead to 4-3.
Pressly then threw a wild pitch that advanced Adames to third, but he recovered to get Yoshihito Tsutsugo to line out, ending the game and keeping the Astros' season alive for one more day.
Up next
Tampa Bay will go with their trademark "opener", calling on John Curtiss to start Game 5 while Houston counters with Luis Garcia, making his postseason debut. First pitch is scheduled for 5:07pm.