Rangers stun Astros on Huff's 2-HR night

The Rangers enjoyed their first walk-off win and their first multi-homer game by a player this season on Friday night.

They were one strike away from another loss before Ronald Guzmán's ninth-inning home run sent the game into extras, and they pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Astros in 10 innings at Globe Life Field. The Rangers' win kept the Astros from clinching a postseason spot, at least temporarily. (Houston secured the second AL West berth later in the night with an Angels loss.)

• Box score

Sam Huff had the big night at the plate, hitting a pair of home runs for the Rangers' first two runs. It's the first Rangers multi-homer game since Willie Calhoun on Sept. 22, 2019, at Oakland.

Huff didn't bat during the game-winning rally in the 10th, but he was enough of a threat that inning to impact Astros manager Dusty Baker's strategy.

“There was a lot on the line for [the Astros],” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “To see our younger guys out in that situation and competing was great. I'm really proud of our team. We haven't won many games this year, and it has been hard, but we keep fighting. They haven't quit.”

The Rangers trailed, 3-2, when Guzmán, after falling behind 0-2 in the count, hit a 2-2 curve ball down the right-field line. The ball had an exit velocity of 90.7 mph and traveled a projected distance of 342 feet, but that was enough to tie the game.

“Down to our last strike, Guzie has a great at-bat, gets a hanging breaking ball and hits it out,” Woodward said.

Alex Bregman’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th put the Astros back in front, but only temporarily. The Rangers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th against right-hander Enoli Paredes, and Nick Solak tied it with a sacrifice fly to deep right-center. That also moved Isiah Kiner-Falefa to third and pinch-runner Andrew Romine to second.

Left-hander Brooks Raley came in to pitch with Joey Gallo up, first base open, Rougned Odor on deck, and Huff behind him. Baker elected to pitch to Gallo rather than walking him to load the bases.

“You set up the double play, Odor doesn’t hit into many double plays,” Baker said. “As easy as it is to look back, we thought we could strike him out. He barely put the ball in play, and Huff has been killing us. We took our chance with Gallo.”

Gallo, facing a drawn-in infield, hit a grounder that second baseman Jose Altuve fielded on the run, but his throw home was off-line and Kiner-Falefa slid in safely for the game-winning run. Huff never got to the plate.

Huff was playing in his ninth game since being called up and has gone 10-for-28 (.357) at the plate. He is the second Rangers rookie catcher to hit two home runs in a game. The other was Jarrod Saltalamacchia on Aug. 22, 2007, in a 30-3 win over the Orioles.

“I want to keep proving, and keep going and do my thing,” Huff said. “I took this as an opportunity to learn. I just want to keep having fun and understand when I hit a bump in the road, it’s not going to kill me.”

Huff gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the second when he pulled a 1-1 slider from Astros starter José Urquidy over left-center-field wall for his first home run. His second came in the fifth inning when he went the opposite way with a fastball over the right-field wall.

“It’s impressive to see the comfort and confidence he is gaining in a short amount of time,” Woodward said. “The most impressive thing is the mental stability of the kid. He looked like he was overmatched at first, he made adjustments very quickly. He did exactly what he said he was going to do in those first two at-bats. If he hangs a breaking ball, I’m going to pull it to left. If he throws a fastball, I’m going to right-center. For a young kid to execute in a setting like this against a team like that, kudos to him.”