Houston Astros closer Josh Hader surrendered a game-ending single to Josh Naylor during a 44-pitch outing, resulting in a 5-6 defeat that left the club at 78-80 while maintaining a tie for first place in the American League West.
The bullpen sequence unspooled across the ninth and tenth innings. Hader entered in the ninth inning with a 0.83 ERA, before returning for the tenth. Randy Arozarena worked a seven-pitch walk, Dominic Canzone advanced the runners on a groundout to place runners on second and third with one out, and Cal Raleigh drew a walk to load the bases. After throwing his 35th pitch without an active relief arm warming in the bullpen, Hader walked Julio Rodríguez on eight pitches to force home the tying run. Naylor then drove the 44th pitch of Hader’s night into center field for the walk-off winner.
“By this way, losing games like this is really tough, but we have four games left and still need to play good baseball to finish the season right,” Hader said following the defeat. “We still hold the head-to-head advantage, which is lucky for us, but we cannot rely on that alone and must win all remaining games.”
With the Texas Rangers also dropping their contest on the same day, both division rivals sit at identical 78-80 records. The Astros retain the tiebreaker advantage based on head-to-head regular-season play against Texas, preserving their grip on the top spot in the division standings.
“It’s a tough game, really tough,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We used almost every pitcher we had to try to get through this game, and this loss really hurts.”
The Astros return to action in their final four games of the regular-season schedule, needing a strong finish to secure the American League West crown against a chasing Texas squad.
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