Tucker hits go-ahead slam in 9th for dramatic W: 'That was some battle'

BALTIMORE -- Once the ninth inning comes, the house lights black out and Félix Bautista enters the game at Oriole Park, not many hitters get very far against the fireballing closer nicknamed “The Mountain.” Kyle Tucker isn’t most hitters.

Tucker must have brought his climbing shoes to the ballpark Tuesday night, because he scaled The Mountain, and it gave the Astros one of their most dramatic wins of the season.

Tucker launched a go-ahead ninth-inning grand slam off Bautista to send Houston to a thrilling come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the Orioles, punctuating a rare rally off the All-Star closer as the Astros kept pace with the Rangers in the American League West race. Tucker became the fourth player in MLB this season to achieve a 20-20 season with his 20th homer, battling back from an 0-2 count to yank a 403-foot shot off Bautista in the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

“That was some battle -- two big, big boys,” said manager Dusty Baker, who earned win No. 2157, one away from tying Bucky Harris for seventh all-time. “That was a determination at-bat. That's what hitting is all about: it's about determination and want and desire and concentration, and Tuck had all of the above. He fouled off some real tough pitches, stayed off some tough pitches and got a pitch that he could hit and didn't miss it. A lot of times you get your pitch, you foul it back or something. He squared it up, and boy, that was a beautiful sight."

Tucker’s 106.9 mph slam came on a 100.4 mph fastball from Bautista, the eight fastest pitch hit for a home run in MLB this season, per Statcast. It was also the third-fastest pitch hit for a grand slam in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008).

The AL saves leader, Bautista entered play with a 0.85 ERA and only three home runs allowed in 52 2/3 innings this season. He had converted 30 of 35 save previous chances this season and 10 straight since June 25. Bautista had not allowed more than one run in a game all season.

Tucker changed that with one swing.

“I was able to catch one out front and time it well,” Tucker said. “That was a tough at-bat, but I found a way to come out of it on top.”

Said Orioles starter Grayson Rodriguez: “That’s once in a lifetime right there. That’s a generational closer, so for that to happen, that was pretty rare. Definitely not something that’s going to keep happening. Kyle Tucker is obviously a good hitter, but that right there is pretty rare.”

It capped a dramatic ninth-inning rally for the Astros, who fell behind five runs early on Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman homers. But Framber Valdez settled in well enough to retire 10 of his final 14 hitters and complete seven innings in his first start since his masterful Aug. 1 no-hitter, despite allowing at least five earned runs for the third time in his past five starts. Jeremy Peña’s eighth-inning RBI single helped Houston chip away, but it still entered the ninth down 6-3 against one of the game’s lockdown closers.

“We didn’t let them pad the league, that was big,” Baker said. “I tell our guys: ‘Get them out of slam reach. That got us back into slam reach.”

Houston’s ninth-inning rally began inauspiciously, with pinch-hitter Jon Singleton working a leadoff walk in his first at-bat with the club since 2015. Jose Altuve followed with a single, and after Alex Bregman struck out, Yordan Alvarez sent a 101.7 mph Bautista fastball 395 feet to the center-field wall. The ball landed just out of the reach of a sprawling Jorge Mateo, but each runner only advanced one base in part because of the wall-scraping play Mateo made earlier in the night.

“He was flirting with that fence all day,” Baker said of Alvarez.

That set the stage for Tucker, who fouled off four straight pitches off Bautista to work his way back from an 0-2 count. Tucker, who joined Ronald Acuña Jr., Corbin Carroll and Bobby Witt Jr. as players with a 20-20 season in 2023, turned the ninth pitch into his fifth career grand slam, the ninth by the Astros this season (second most in MLB). Tucker also hit the last, on July 3 at Texas.

“You don’t want to make your living off that guy,” Baker said of Bautista. “He’s probably one of the toughest in the league, either league.”

Said O’s manager Brandon Hyde: “[Bautista] is not going to be perfect, which he really has been for almost the entire season. Tip your hat to Alvarez driving that ball off the wall in center, and then Tucker with an incredible at-bat off him, fouling off a ton of pitches and handling a fastball and hitting it into the seats.”