Bullpen woes continue, 'Stros drop series to Arizona

After two games that featured explosive offensive showings at Chase Field, the offense came back down to earth in the series finale in Arizona. It would take a balance of exceptional pitching and clutch hitting to earn the series win over a feisty Diamondbacks squad that exploded for fourteen runs the day prior.

The offense would do enough to win, but continued bullpen issues would hand the Astros their second series loss of the season after being walked off 5-4 against the Diamondbacks.

The first three innings would go scoreless for both sides, in no small part due to starting pitcher Brandon Bielak. His three-pitch mix of a four-seam fastball, changeup and curveball kept Arizona hitters off balance throughout the entirety of his start.

His dominance would continue well into the fifth, where a 1-2-3 inning that retired Andy Young, Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte would end the rookie's stellar night. His night would end with a line of five innings pitched, two hits, three walks. and a single strikeout with no runs allowed.

The Astros would have trouble getting anyone on base through their opening innings, managing only two baserunners through the first three innings. The Astros would break through in the fourth after Yuli Gurriel drove in José Altuve on a ball that was deflected off of the third base bag.

The Astros would take a 2-0 lead in the sixth after a solo home run from Altuve extended the lead for Houston.

Bielak would leave the game in the fifth inning, and Cy Sneed would come on to relieve him in the sixth. Sneed would be able to unable to collect quick outs like his rookie counterpart, en route to a three-run inning for the Diamondbacks that featured back-to-back doubles from Starling Marte and Christian Walker, an RBI single, and an RBI groundout with the bases loaded.

Andre Scrubb and Blake Taylor would keep thing manageable for the Astros heading into the eighth inning, where José Altuve would manage to get on with two outs for Alex Bregman, who would drive a go-ahead homer into left field to give the 'Stros a 4-3 lead late.

It was up to Ryan Pressly to finish the game off for the Astros. Pressly, who had only pitched two thirds of an inning on the season so far after experiencing arm soreness and blister issues, would get off to a rocky start with no-out walk and an unlucky ground ball single that put a runner in scoring position with no outs.

A Ketel Marte single would load the bases for Kole Calhoun, who had long plagued the Astros this series. A slider down and in on a 2-2 count would be driven into right field, scoring two and walking off the Astros to hand Arizona the victory. Pressly didn't record an out.

The loss puts Houston at 6-6, and 2.5 games back of Oakland, who they begin playing tomorrow. George Springer left late in the game, citing a wrist sprain that might keep him out of tomorrow's game. Zack Greinke will look to stabilize the team with a win against Chris Bassitt.