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 Castillo capped a three-hit performance with a leadoff home run in
the top of the 10th inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied for
a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night at Minute Maid
Park.
Castillo finished a triple shy of the cycle for the Diamondbacks
(50-51), who extended their winning streak to a season-high six
games while snapping the Astros' seven-game home winning streak.
Castillo (3-for-5, three runs) had a single and a double before
lining the first pitch from right-hander Pat Neshek (3-2) just
inside the left-field pole.
"It feels good," Castillo said. "I can't explain it honestly; just
being me. I am seeing the ball better and looking for my pitch and
being confident at the plate, not chasing a bad pitch. I just feel
comfortable at the plate, and my timing is good."
Third baseman Jake Lamb added his third home run of the season one
at-bat after Castillo hit his 11th. The Diamondbacks trailed 4-1
before scoring twice in the sixth and pulling even in the seventh
when left fielder David Peralta greeted Astros left-hander Tony Sipp
with an RBI single to right that scored pinch-runner Cliff
Pennington with two outs.
Right-handers Addison Reed and Daniel Hudson (3-3) combined for
three hitless innings of relief in advance of Arizona closer Brad
Ziegler, who set the Astros (58-46) down in order in the 10th for
his 18th save. Starting with right-hander Rubby De La Rosa in the
sixth inning, Arizona pitchers faced the minimum over the last five
innings of the contest.
"I think that's a huge part of it," Arizona manager Chip Hale said.
"When you're pitchers get you back in the dugout the offense feels
like it has a chance. If they tack one on there, get a fifth run, I
think our guys get a little demoralized. But getting us back in off
the field helps a lot."
The Astros flashed their ample power, and ability to quickly seize
momentum, in the bottom of the fifth inning, striking suddenly
against De La Rosa, who cruised through his first four innings on
the mound.
With De La Rosa riding a string of seven consecutive batters
retired, Houston rallied with the bottom of its order with first
baseman Marwin Gonzalez dropping a perfect bunt single behind third
baseman Luis Valbuena and in front of catcher Jason Castro, who was
batting ninth.
Castro followed with his second three-run homer in as many nights,
erasing a 1-0 deficit with an opposite-field shot to left on a 1-0
pitch. Three batters later shortstop Carlos Correa also homered to
left field on a 1-0 count, pushing the Houston lead to 4-1 with his
10th home run.
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"We had the lead," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "Any time you
have the lead at some point late in the game, you feel like it got
away from you a little bit. We didn't play our best today. In all
aspects of the game, we had a tough time answering them and it cost
us the game in a couple different ways."
But Arizona responded quickly, with Castillo producing a double
after Peralta opened the sixth inning with a single off Astros
right-hander Scott Feldman. The Diamondbacks capitalized on a
fielding miscue from newly acquired Astros center fielder Carlos
Gomez, who overran the Castillo drive into right field instead of
ceding ground to right fielder Colby Rasmus. Two run-scoring
groundouts later and the Diamondbacks trailed 4-3, having chased
Feldman from the game.
"We'd been playing pretty well," said Feldman, who allowed three
runs on seven hits with three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. "Kind
of seems like it's a game we should've won I feel like. Hopefully we
can just come back out tomorrow, try to get one in the win column."
NOTES: Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart opted to stand pat
at the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks, who were six games behind
the San Francisco Giants for the second National League wild card,
did entertain trading for Reds closer Aroldis Chapman. ... CF Carlos
Gomez, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, hit
second in the order in his Houston debut. To make room for Gomez,
the Astros optioned 1B Jon Singleton to Triple-A Fresno. Singleton
hit .205/.321/.318 with one home run and six RBIs over 16 games with
the Astros. ... Houston will activate RHP Mike Fiers, acquired along
with Gomez, before Saturday's game.
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