Steven Kwan hit an RBI double in the top of the 10th inning before Emmanuel Clase recorded his ninth save as the visiting Cleveland Guardians squeezed out a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Kwan finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs. He followed a leadoff walk from Brayan Rocchio with a double to left field off Astros reliever Shawn Dubin (0-1) that scored automatic runner Gabrial Arias with the go-ahead run. Rocchio finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Clase needed only five pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the 10th. He struck out Joey Loperfido to open the frame. Mauricio Dubon then lined out to Kwan, who doubled off Astros catcher Victor Caratini at second base to end the game. Caratini rounded third and headed home, appearing to think the ball would drop.
Astros right-hander Justin Verlander and Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie each threw seven strong innings before the bullpens decided the outcome.
Verlander surrendered a hit in each of his first three innings and walked the first two batters he faced, Andres Gimenez and Jose Ramirez, to open the fourth. On each occasion, he escaped unscathed despite allowing the leadoff batter to reach safely in three of the frames.
Caratini provided an assist in the third when he threw out Rocchio trying to steal second base for the second out of the inning after Rocchio reached via a one-out single. Verlander helped his cause in the fourth when he induced David Fry to hit into an inning-ending double play that snuffed a potential Guardians rally.
Will Brennan opened the top of the fifth with his fourth home run of the season, a 377-foot shot to right-center off Verlander to give Cleveland a 1-0 lead. The Guardians doubled that margin when Rocchio worked a two-out walk and scored when Kwan tripled to the right-field corner.
Verlander allowed two runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
McKenzie finished with six strikeouts, recording 14 swings-and-misses on the strength of a quality curveball. He faced just one batter over the minimum through five innings, benefitting from inning-ending double plays in the third and fifth. But the Astros got to McKenzie in the sixth inning and again in the seventh to pull even.
Jose Altuve drove in Dubon with a one-out single in the sixth that cut the two-run deficit in half. Kyle Tucker led off the seventh with a 422-foot blast to right-center, his eighth home run, knotting the score at 2-2.
–Field Level Media
