The Tampa Bay Rays (34-39) knocked off the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros (49-26) 2-1 on Tuesday night in Houston to end a 12-game winning streak by the Astros.
The Rays struck early in this game, as Carlos Gomez made a nice defensive play from the outfield in the first inning to keep the Astros from scoring. CJ Cron then homered to lead off the top of the second innning to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. As you would expect from the Astros, they had an answer waiting, as Alex Bregman singled in a run and was thrown out at second base in the third inning, and these teams would remain knotted 1-1 for much of this game.
The Rays finally broke through in the eighth inning when Wilson Ramos drove in what would prove to be the winning run and give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. The Astros made in interesting in the bottom of the ninth, getting runners at first and second, but Sergio Romo was able to shut the door and collect his fourth save of the season.
Blake Snell (9-4, 2.48) picked up the win going seven innings for the Rays allowing one earned run on six strikeouts - he did walk seven, but allowed only three hits. Justin Verlander started the game for the Astros and was as dominant as ever, allowing only the one earned run - but Hector Randon (1-2, 1.67) took the loss out of the bullpen.
The Astros and Rays wrap up their three game series on Wednesday night in Houston - first pitch is set for 8:10 PM, and you can hear the game throughout Tampa Bay on 620 WDAE & 95.3 FM beginning with Steve Carney and the Inside Pitch at 7 PM.