ASTROS GAMER: Houston evens the series with the New York Mets

The Houston Astros defeated the New York Mets 9-6 at City Field in Queens, New York on Saturday afternoon. The win brings Houston back to .500 on the season, at 41-41 overall.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN:

The Mets sent Tylor Megill to the mound in this game. He worked the first inning easily, retiring the Astros in order with one strikeout in three.

Megill was matched against Framber Valdez, who started for the Astros. He faced traffic in the first inning, but gave up two runners to tie the game with zero on the board.

The Astros got their offense going in the top of the second inning. Jake Meyers worked long at-bats and it paid off as he sent a solo shot to the opposite field to make it 1-0 Astros.

Valdez struggled in the bottom half of that inning. The Mets started with two runners on base. Then, a bunt on the move was compounded by an error on Valdez, scoring the Mets’ first run. Harrison Bader’s RBI single made it 2-1 Mets after that, still with no outs. Another run came on a Brandon Nimmo RBI double. Then, Pete Alonso scored two more runs. That made it 5-1 Mets after two innings.

Valdez wasn’t sharp in that outing, and he would work hard just to stay in the ballgame until the top of the middle innings. The Mets added another in the third on a solo homer by Mark Vientos.

Trailing by five, it became clear that Houston’s offense should come alive. They did it in the fourth, starting with putting up a few baserunners. Jeremy Peña hit a two-run double, cutting the lead to three. Then Jon Singleton hit a run-scoring single, and the Astros were within two at 6-4.

Those were the only runs either starter allowed. Valdez lasted just four and two-thirds, giving up 10 hits. Megill lasted five and one-third, giving up five hits.

The score remained at 6-4 until the eighth inning, when Houston made a push. They loaded the bases, then scored a run on a wild pitch. That made it 6-5. Then, Alex Bregman hit a tiebreaking, two-out, two-strike single to right to score two runs and give the Astros their first lead of the day at 7-6.

In the top half of the ninth inning, the Stros added some important insurance runs. Mauricio Dubon hit a two-out, two-run single to make it 9-6 and give Josh Hader a lead heading into the final inning.

Hader took advantage of that cushion to close out the game in the ninth inning, retiring the Mets to secure the Astros’ victory.

LARGE NUMBER: 5

The Astros offense scored five runs over the final two innings. This comeback allowed them to win an important away victory.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Alex Bregman

Bregman only had one hit that day, but it was the most important one. His two-run single gave Houston its first lead of the game, which they did not relinquish.

UP NEXT: The Astros and Mets will wrap up their series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 12:40 p.m. You can hear the action on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.