Marwin Gonzalez lined the first pitch he saw from Indians pitcher Cody Anderson into the right-field seats for a two-out walk-off home run in the 16th inning that sent the Astros to a 5-3 marathon win Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
The third-longest game in the history of Minute Maid Park saw the teams combine to use 18 pitchers who threw 489 pitches. Anderson, a starter, was pressed into duty after the Indians used their entire relief corps. Michael Feliz threw three scoreless innings for his first big league win for Houston.
“I just tried to put the ball in play,” said Gonzalez, whose two-run shot was only the second non-solo homer of his career. “It was a tough day for everybody to play. It was hard to make contact.”
Gonzalez ended his Major League-record streak of 25 solo shots to begin his career on May 6 against the Mariners.
The Astros set season-highs for walks (12) and runners left on base (17), but came through in the clutch hit for their first walk-off win to cap a 6-4 homestand.
“It”s a shame for either team to lose that type of game,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “It would have been more of a shame had we lost it, but what a game. The entire back half of that game I’m thinking back to the first inning bases loaded, the second inning bases loaded, the fourth inning bases loaded. The first three innings were incredible amount of base runners we didn’t take advantage of it, and when you’re in this tight game it’s impossible not to think about it.”
The Indians forced extra innings by tying the game in the ninth inning. Mike Napoli doubled with one out and scored the tying run on a Carlos Santana triple. Astros closer Luke Gregerson had converted his previous 16 save chances since Aug. 12 of last year.
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